DiverCity event celebrates cultures around the world

Christian Fernando Aguirre, News Reporter

Humber students celebrated cultures from around the world last Thursday at the annual DiverCity celebration hosted by First Year Experience.

The event had live music, arts and crafts, free food and other activities.

At the start of the celebration, participants would receive a “passport” which could be used to collect stamps by visiting different booths at the event. Once a student filled their passport they could exchange it for a dish of culturally diverse foods.

The theme of this year’s celebration was the seven continents and the cultures that exist within them.

The organizers created displays for each continent. These displays showcased photos and interesting facts about the cultures and peoples of that region.

Alykhan Hajee, a Diversity Team Lead at First Year Experience, said since Humber students come from hundreds of cultures the seven continent theme was the most inclusive.

At the arts and crafts booth, students where encouraged to create arts that represent their culture. The booth had may art supplies and featured a mural where students where encouraged to write a message about what diversity means to them.

Treta Vyas, who helped organize the celebration, said a goal of the event was to make everyone feel welcomed at Humber.

“The main purpose behind this [ celebration ] is to show the diverse community at Humber,” she said.

Vyas said the idea behind the arts and crafts booth was to show how people from different cultures use the same art materials in unique ways.

“Every culture, doesn’t matter where you come from has some sort of arts,” she said.

Leo Aslanyan, a second year 3D Animation international student from Russia who attended the event, said he enjoyed the DiverCity fair.

“At stopped by because I heard the music, and I am happy to see that Humber College values diversity,” Aslanyan said.