ETSU’s third annual Multicultural Fashion Show will rise to the occasion of International Education Week Saturday, Nov. 20.
Sporting the theme Rising in the East, Setting in West, the ebb and flow of models will begin at 7 p.m. in the Culp Center Auditorium.
The event, sponsored by ETSU’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, is free of charge and open to the community.
The fashion show was created several years ago to unite all students across campus by exposing them to each other’s cultures, as a learning experience outside the classroom. “Experiential learning is what the department of Student Affairs tries to do,” said Laura Terry, director of Multicultural Affairs.
The show’s success has resulted in the fashion show winning the campus Student Event of the Year award two years in a row, Terry said.
Recruiting for this year’s show began two weeks ago with an interest meeting held in Culp Center, inviting and encouraging everyone to get involved.
“This year we have more participation from students who are volunteering to be models or wanting to put on a talent show,” said Neha Barakam, a pre-med senior international student who has been involved in organizing the show since 2002.
The 2004 version will feature 40 to 45 students, dancing, singing traditional songs, modeling clothes from different countries and focusing attention on the uniqueness of all ethnicity.
This year’s show will also involve international students from King College and Virginia Intermont, Barakam said.
“In the past, the Multicultural Fashion Show has been presented the same,” Terry said. “We’re changing it up this year, adding new things.”
About 23 countries, including France, India, Japan and Ethiopia, will be represented in the show, Terry said, although the decorations will recognize many more – with flags from all over the world.
Food and refreshments, too, will represent many types of ethnic cuisine.
“It’s an important learning experience,” said Bhavika Govan, an ETSU junior. “Everyone will walk away having learned something they didn’t know.”
For more information, call Terry at 439-6633.

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