The flags of dozens of nations hung from every wall of Jewett Dining Hall Saturday evening as the annual International Banquet got under way.

The banquet, themed “A Night with Kaleidoscope,” featured an international menu consisting of five courses from across the globe, as well as traditional performances by Whitman students.

Performances included a Vietnamese fan dance, a Romanian folktale, the singing of the national hymn of Guam and a Latin American hip-hop dance, among others.

“I decided to perform because this is something that I have enjoyed for many years, and I want to exhibit it to the people that don’t know about it. I want everybody to be educated about all these subtle cultural aspects that are so distant from what we have here in America,” said first-year Tumisang Mothei, who performed the Pantsula, a South African township dance.

“You get the real essence of a culture by dancing and practicing together. It was a great experience,” said first-year Enkhjin Batjargal, who danced with nine other Whitman students in the Bollywood dance mélange.

The banquet, which has been taking place since 1972, focuses on highlighting the cultural diversity present on the Whitman campus.

“It is meant to bring the international aspects of Whitman into the community and to share it with the students, staff and especially the friendship families,” said Joyce Fogg, a longtime Friendship Family Program participant and former international student and scholar adviser.

According to Fogg, the Friendship Family Program is an optional program in which international students are paired with a family in the Walla Walla community to promote cultural interaction and understanding outside of the Whitman campus.
Among the attendees to the banquet was Becky Miller, assistant director of the study abroad program.

“I work with a lot of these students, so I thought coming to the banquet would be a great opportunity to see them outside of my office and see what they do in their free time,” said Miller.