Canadian students celebrate culture at Open House

The International Student Center held a Canadian Open House Wednesday, April 11, in DeMoss Hall to give Canadian students a taste of home and share with Liberty University students a little of what life is like for the U.S. neighbors to the north.

At this event, the International Student Center featured Canadian cuisine and held a Canadian trivia competition where students could test their knowledge of Canada and learn fun facts about the country. Throughout the school year, the ISC hosts at least 10 open houses for different regions of the world.

“I think it’s important to celebrate all the cultures from all the countries,” Tunya Pannell, the operations coordinator and office manager for the ISC, said.

The ISC hosts open houses for the purpose of giving Liberty’s international students a chance to share the culture of their country or region for a day.

“Even though we have the Taste of Nations where our students get to cook, not everybody can cook at the Taste of Nations. So here at the open houses, (everyone can cook),” Pannell said. “Every opportunity that we have for our international students to share a little bit about their culture and, of course, their food is always an opportunity to share with the LU community and all the students. All of our open houses are open to everybody here.”

Canadian students and Christian Service volunteers in the ISC worked together to host the event. Both the students and Sodexo helped make authentic Canadian food like beaver tails, macaroni and cheese with ketchup, poutine, Nanaimo bars and ginger ale with lemon soda.

“I didn’t know macaroni and cheese and ketchup was a Canadian thing, so I was surprised by that,” Jelene Vasquez, Canada native and senior at Liberty, said. “It’s nice to see other Canadians. It’s nice to know that (the ISC thinks) of us.”

Six hundred and twenty-five students attended the Canadian Open House to eat food, play Canadian trivia and mingle with other international and local students.

“I saw the Canadian Open House and … I like to taste food from all over the world. So that’s why I decided to get some food and get a taste of their culture as well,” Angela Owusuaa, president of the African Fashion Show and attendee of the Canadian Open House, said.

With about 800 to 900 international students currently studying at Liberty, the ISC, founded by C. Daniel Kim, has the same goal of serving as a haven for international students that it did when it was originally created.

“The (ISC) is like a ministry where we reach out to students and try to help them in any way possible and make them (feel) at home — that’s the most important part,” “It’s very difficult. When I first came here, I stepped off the plane and I was like, ‘Oh gosh. Why am I here? What did I do?’ … This place really helped me feel at home and connected and well served.”

Pannell said she hopes that the center is a “home away from home” for students who live far away from their home country.

“ISC is open to everyone. That’s why we encourage everyone that comes through and everyone that passes by … to please come in and see our center, enjoy some coffee and some tea, and, no doubt, we’re probably always eating something,” Pannell said. “We do encourage everyone to come in, and meet our international students and, of course, enjoy our center as well.”

ISC is open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in DeMoss Hall room 2232.