As everyone might already know, our beloved annual event World Cultures Day was held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was sad as we couldn’t get to interact with faculty members and peers and learn about other cultures in person and eat some good food. However, the World Cultures Day committee did not disappoint as they were still able to put together an amazing event where we could still expand our knowledge on cultures of different countries from the comfort of our own homes.

The event started off with a greeting from Rockhurst’s Chief Inclusion Officer, Dr. Leslie Doyle, followed by a multilingual prayer service planned by Bill Kreige where students and faculty got to speak.

The rest of the event was asynchronous where attendees had the option to click on modules on countries that sparked their interest.

One module was done by French students, Trinity Hodges, Monty Mansi, and Polly Johnson who did a presentation on Cheikh Hamidou Kane, a Senegalese writer who is primarily known for his novel The Ambiguous Adventure. They explain the depths of his legacy and how as a political figure, he was able to fight against the racial injustices that surrounded him. The Ambiguous Adventure is essentially about the cultural interactions between the western world and Africa. The story is about a boy from Senegal who goes to France for education and he loses his touch with his Islamic roots.

Dr. Mayuri Gilhooly, Assistant Professor of Physics, was also able to give a virtual presentation on Sri Lanka and was able to make the presentation personal as she is from there.

Professor Gilhooly delves into how the violence from the Sri Lankan civil war caused difficulty in her life and the close calls she experienced because of the war. She also explains her perspective on this as a Sinhalese Buddhist.

Paola Rodriguez, senior here at Rockhurst, also did a presentation on Costa Rica where she highlights on the racial injustices that occur there as well as explaining the culture through their traditions and different types of foods, such as tamales and queso.

While these were only a few of the presentations from the many of the Canvas page, there are many more that expands on various cultures. If you ever feel like expanding your mind on the different cultures of the world, take a glance at the canvas page link:

https://rockhurst.instructure.com/courses/5553

Special thank you to committee members, Dr. Katie Madigan, Dr. Rocio Duncan, Dr. Janet Spallo, Dr. Mary Haskins, Paivi Bybee, Dr. Liz Zayat, Dr. Nilufer Guler, Dr. Mayuri Gilhooly, Marie Taboda APRN, and student representative Allison Delgado for putting together an amazing event!

Edited by Micaela Gutierrez