Monday at Memorial Amphitheatre students gathered for the Office of Diversity and Institutional Equality’s (ODIE) first Culture Fest.

“It’s really cool to be able to just chill with people from other countries,” said student Joe Aldossari. “On our campus there are students from China, Japan, Africa and more. They’re all here.”

Though ODIE has been active on campus for eight years, Director Joan Williams said the mission for this particular event was different than that of those prior to it.

“Before, our mission was to welcome multicultural students and their organizations,” Williams said. “Now, we’re extending that welcome to everybody. The event was really designed to increase awareness of diversity. It’s to welcome freshman and advance diversity, which is why we have different genres, foods and cultural competence. It’s the beginning of education initiatives.”

To encourage students to get involved, many cultural organizations, such as the Hispanic Culture Organization, had booths set up around the amphitheatre grounds. Bianca Hernandez said she plans to join the HCO this year and felt the event was a cultural success.

“The food is the best part,” Hernandez said. “It shows that this is really a culture fest because there’s food from all these different countries. The lines are long, but it’s a great way to meet new people.”

Entertainment continued all night, including a Japanese performance, singing by Madeleine Frankford, an interactive Spanish Flamenco, music by J. Forgiven and a closing by DJ Hunter Jackson.

For more information about the Culture Fest, pick up a copy of The Flor-Ala this Thursday.