Damietta Center embraces cultural differences
In preparation for the upcoming Thanksgiving break, St. Bonaventure’s Damietta Center for Multicultural Student Affairs hosted a THANKSgiving Event to celebrate the upcoming holiday.
Parker Suddeth, director of the Damietta Center, was inspired to plan the event after hearing the Board of Trustees hosted a Thanksgiving event which invited different members of the clergy. Suddeth wanted to adapt this welcoming event to the St. Bonaventure community.
“We are the embodiment of Thanksgiving,” Suddeth said to students. “We are coming around the table with loved ones and telling random stories. It’s a perfect illustration that no matter what your ethnic background is, we can all come together and break bread.”
Every family and culture has a different way of giving thanks. The event, held on Tuesday, Nov. 13, gave the community the chance to embrace these differences and gain a better understanding of other cultures.
Several different pies and other desserts, representative of the different cultures that make up the St. Bonaventure community, filled the table. Students from diverse backgrounds surrounded the table.
Almost every student came from a different religious or ethnic background, and each one had the opportunity to share their favorite Thanksgiving foods, traditions and what they were thankful for. Sharing different stories of holiday traditions allowed students to discover how similar, yet so different, each of their experiences had been.
“As I’m starting to wrap up my senior year, I’m thankful for being able to come to St. Bonaventure. My parents came all the way from India and I am so thankful that they were able to support me through this process. I met such a diverse group of people at St. Bonaventure and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to come here,” said Deepak Iyer a senior individualized major from Atlanta, Georgia.
Despite coming from a plethora of different backgrounds, the students and faculty at the event all expressed their gratitude for their friends, family and especially for the St. Bonaventure community.
“Being far away from family has made me appreciate them more and I am so grateful that they support me. But being so far away from them, I’m able to make friends that are like family here and I really do choose them as a family,” said Dr. Christine Uhl, an assistant professor of mathematics at St. Bonaventure.
Just as Dr. Uhl described, the event showcased the strong sense of community that students and faculty alike discussed and served as an opportunity to welcome diverse cultures and traditions.
By Julia Schneider, Contributing Writer
schneije18@bonaventure.edu
