Potlucks and panels: International Education Week at Concordia celebrates culture and conversation  

As part of International Education Week, a federally initiated event spanning from Nov. 18 to Nov. 23, Concordia organizations collaborated to host a different event every day to celebrate international students and their cultures. With everything from potlucks to panels, this was a time for sharing cultures and growing through unity. 

These events were organized by the International Student Organization (ISO), the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEIC) and the Office of Global Learning, with the help of some outside community groups like the Fargo-Moorhead (F-M) International Potluck and Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News. 

One of the largest of these events was the global potluck, which took place on Thursday, Nov. 21, and featured a pair of panels hosted by senior journalist Sarah Thamer with MPR News. Students and other facilitators were invited to talk and provide their views surrounding international education. The latter panel hosted international students from Concordia College: Siam Shimul, a senior from Bangladesh and the president of ISO and a commissioner for DEIC; Timea Vrabcova, a senior from Slovakia; and Alecious Togbah, a senior from Liberia. The segment will air at 9 A.M. on Dec. 3 and will be available on MPR News’s website. 

However, the main draw of the event was the food. With dishes brought in from numerous different cultures via local restaurants and individual’s kitchens, there was a wide spread of foods from all around the world. This event was organized by the F-M International Potluck, a local nonprofit that partners with various community members to host monthly potlucks. While the Concordia Global Potluck only began as an official event last year, this branch of the nonprofit has been in operation since 2016, with a mission to “connect people through food and storytelling,” according to their website. 

Aside from the potluck, International Education Week provided a number of other events including a set of more locally moderated panels the night prior. These panels, held on Wednesday, Nov. 20, were moderated by Shimul and Michael Chan, Vice President for Mission and Inclusion. They hosted both faculty and students alike to discuss the strengths and struggles of international education at Concordia. 

As a jointly initiated endeavor by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, Alicia Kauffman, Director of Global Learning and International Enrollment at Concordia, said that the college only has plans to expand and improve. She expressed interest in adjusting the times of events to better improve student turnout, collaborating with professors to create extra credit opportunities to provide incentives for students to attend events, and garnering more community involvement through connections with F-M International Potluck.