St. Thomas’ annual Culture Fest was a little different this year. What was once an event sponsored entirely by the Globally Minded Student Association is now a collaboration between nine multicultural clubs on campus.

GMSA, the African Nations’ Student Association, the Black Empowerment Student Alliance, Hana, the Saudi Club, the Irish Club, LU, the Muslim Student Association and the Hmong United Student Association worked together to organize the event, held on Friday, Nov. 20.

The student-organized and student-run event started with a buffet-style dinner where the first 100 people to arrive received a free Culture Fest shirt. Then the real show started.

Performances ranged from spoken word to the art of Brazilian dance fighting: capoeira. St. Thomas senior and event organizer Natacha Eguida was pleased with how the event turned out.

“I was really happy to see everyone finally coming together,” Eguida said. “I’m really proud of every single performer we had tonight.”

One of the performers was St. Thomas freshman and member of BESA, MSA and ANSA, Rhoda Yassin, who modeled a traditional Somali dress in the fashion show.

“People need to see different cultures,” Yassin said. “They need to see something out of the ordinary than what they’re used to.”

On top of the many performances the two emcees, Abeye Cherinet and Faith Adeola, kept the ball rolling between acts.

Both Cherinet, a St. Thomas senior and representative of BESA, and Eguida were happy with the event’s turnout.

“I’ve been active in this event since freshman year, and tonight we had the most people ever,” Eguida said.

A lot of work went into the event, but Eguida said the most difficult part was maintaining “communication between all the clubs and making sure that each club (was) well-represented.”

Each club at Culture Fest showcased something different.

“The goal was just to spread awareness about different cultures that are represented on campus because we do have a diverse student body,” Cherinet said.

One of the many attendees was St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan.

“Several students invited me, and I knew that it was student-produced and student-run,” Sullivan said. “I just wanted to be here to share it with them.”

With a mix of light-hearted performances as well as spoken word poetry that addressed world issues and diversity, the event ended with an invitation for everyone in the audience to dance onstage.

“It was a really high-quality event, and I really liked the different variety of acts,“ Sullivan said. “It struck just the right tone of joy and celebration and also some serious thought and reflection.”

Maya Shelton-Davies can be reached shel1181@stthomas.edu.