UHV International Festival to showcase worldwide cultures
The University of Houston-Victoria is preparing to welcome the community to an evening of food, dancing and activities that will feature cultures from around the world.
The eighth annual UHV International Festival will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on April 14 in the area between UHV University Center and University West, 3007 N. Ben Wilson St. The free event is open to the community as well as all UHV faculty, staff and students.
“UHV is fortunate to have an amazingly diverse array of international students who choose to come here and earn their degrees while learning about the U.S.,” said Yvonne Garcia, UHV director of international programs. “We’re happy to continue the tradition of offering the community this opportunity to learn more about our students and the world around them.”
This year’s festival will feature booths with information about more than two dozen countries. The festival will open with a flag processional featuring flags that represent the home countries of UHV international students. There also will be international cuisine catered by Chartwells, as well as international snacks available at the tables and booths for individual countries. Students will be displaying cultural traditions and teaching demonstrations on various crafts.
“We are so proud of all our students who embrace their culture and want to share a piece of their background with everyone,” Garcia said. “We have some remarkably talented students who can sing, dance and much more.”
Attendees also will have the opportunity to observe several performances featuring a variety of cultures, including ballet folklorico, an African dance and drum ensemble, a samba performance and a belly dancer. There also will be an international fashion show and student performers.
For Dipesh Basnet, a UHV international student from Nepal, the festival will be an exciting opportunity to share his culture while also learning about the cultures of other students. Basnet is working to receive a Master of Science in computer science, and this will be his first year attending the festival.
“I’m so excited to be able to be part of the International Festival,” he said. “I’ve heard so much about it from other students who have participated in previous years. It looks so fun, and I can’t wait to learn about where everyone is from.”
In Nepal, the culture varies widely from region to region, so if you do any traveling, you have to be able to adapt, Basnet said. This is the first time he’s traveled outside his home country, and he was excited to have the opportunity to help plan it.
“I love to travel and explore, and I am hoping this will be a wonderful event,” he said. “There’s so much I want to learn about everything. One thing I’m wanting to do in the future is learn Spanish because I have started to enjoy mariachi music.”
To learn more about the festival, go to www.uhv.edu/international-festivalFestival.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.