The seventh annual Worldfest welcomed students from various backgrounds to celebrate each other on April 19.
Presented by the Cadena Culture Center, Worldfest celebrates people, cultures and the earth through food, music and culture from all around the world.
“Tastes of the World” allowed students to taste food from the Middle East, Latin America, and many more places. There was even vegetarian options such as vegetarian pita with hummus and Greek zoodle salad.
Students such as Stacy Wardhana and Ryan Perkins specifically enjoyed the food among other things.
“I enjoy the food every time, but this has to be my favorite so far,” said Perkins.
Wardhana and Perkins were a part of the Academic Support Center booth. They invited everyone to come and create a flag that they felt helped represent their culture.
“This was pretty fun to do,” said Wardhanna. “I enjoyed meeting people and interacting with them.”
For those who created flags, they were welcomed to visit their artwork as it hung on the wall at the Academic Center.
While everyone had the opportunity to walk around to enjoy the food, items sold by vendors, and booths, they also had the opportunity to enjoy great performances throughout the event.
People sang European music and performed dance routines from places like Bollywood and Korea, and Fullerton College’s dance ensemble performed as well.
“All the performers have done a great job,” said Vincent White, coordinator of the event. “The event has just been really great.”
Elsa Perez, an instructor from Puente comes to the event every year.
“I like it a lot,” said Perez. “It gives us a sense of community and let’s every culture have a voice on campus, and that is something that we strive for.”
Worldfest allows the whole school participate in the event. Other than cultural clubs participating, the sociology club and others participated as well.
Representatives from the Fullerton College Library also made an appearance.
Val Macias, a librarian for Fullerton College, was there to talk about services provided by the library and encouraged students to explore a wide variety of books written by Asian-Pacific authors in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month which will be celebrated next month.
“I would like to raise awareness on resources,” said Macias. “There is so much to the library that many just don’t know about. We have a diverse section on literature and we are more than happy to help anyone who has questions.”
Another interesting booth at Worldfest was the Deaf Culture and Sign Language club. Although it is not an official club yet, they welcome anyone to come and join to learn more about the ASL community.
“Sign language interpretation is a service provided here at Fullerton College,” said Heather Skratulia, an interpreter from DSS. “We have people frequently ask where they can go to learn, so it’s great that we finally have the opportunity to share that with others.”
“This event has been great,” said Samantha Uribe. ‘We are a diverse community and we shouldn’t forget that.”
“Worldfest is a great opportunity to show appreciation and tolerance,” said Gerald Padilla, ethnic studies instructor. “We get to celebrate different cultures, and that’s what it’s all about.”
