International Showcase connects Pittsburg to world

PITTSBURG — Pittsburg residents were reminded in March that they have something rare in southeast Kansas—scores of international students at Pittsburg State University who infuse the area with food, culture, and ideas from their native countries.

The reminder came in the form of the International Showcase, hosted for a second year by the university’s International Office and International Student Association on March 8 in the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts. The event included 11 performances, with songs and dances carefully planned by more than 100 South Korean, Indian, Peruvian, Nepali, Taiwanese, Chinese, African, Hispanic, Brazilian students, and international staff who spent weeks preparing themselves and went upstage to perform in front of an audience of over 400 people.

The show was followed by an offering of definitely-not-American foods and beverages, including Korean sotteok-sotteok, Vietnamese banana cake, Brazilian brigadeiro, Chinese tanghulu, Taiwanese boba tea, Indian mango lassi, Mexican horchata and agua de Jamaica. 

Something unique

The city of Pittsburg is home to a population of over 20 thousand people and holds a significant international community for such a rural area in the heart of the U.S. According to Pitt State’s International Office, there are over 200 international students enrolled this spring. 

“There’s probably not a person in Pittsburg that doesn’t know something about international students because they heard [about] events, or been to things, or met someone just out in public, and been impressed by things,” said Brenda Hawkins, immigration and advising coordinator at the International Office.

Hawkins said events like the International Showcase in the spring semester and Global Fest during the fall are important for both students and the community, giving students a taste of home while bringing people together.

“It’s quite important for international students to have a chance to share like that,” she said. “I think it probably makes them feel good and enjoy being up to share their culture with people and the community at Pitt State.”

Hannah Dahl is the president of Pitt State’s International Student Association. She said it’s valuable to have an international student community in which everybody knows each other and connects.

“Community, belonging, inclusion—all of those things are really important,” she said. “And I feel way more at home and included here, doing these events, and having this organization than at other places that I’ve been where that wasn’t an option.”

A chance to share

Alaniss Marin is a senior at Pitt State and the president of the Hispanics of Today (HOT) organization at Pitt State. This was the second time performing in the International Showcase and, this year, the group danced a traditional Mexican dance with the song “El Ahualulco” by Banda El Recodo. 

“I was extremely nervous at first once we were standing at the side of the Bicknell performance hall waiting to walk on stage,” she said. “However, afterwards, it felt extremely rewarding. Plenty of people from the Pittsburg community walked up to us and asked more questions about our culture. They seemed very interested in learning more, and that was the entire purpose of the dance.”

Marin said the event and others like it in Pittsburg allow her to be a part of something she would have loved to participate in during her high school days, when she grew up in a small town in Oklahoma with very limited Mexican-American representation.

“It’s almost like healing a part of my younger self by doing this type of event,” she said. “It means a lot to me.”

Elli Parsons is a 19-year-old freshman at Pitt State who was born and raised in Carl Junction, Missouri. She says she didn’t expect for Pittsburg to have such a relevant international community in such a rural area, but she loves being able to experience so many different cultures in the university. 

“I’m at every international event that I can go to,” she said. “I like being around other cultures, getting to experience new things, getting to learn things about different places.”

Highlights of the night included the performances, food, and demonstrations of the Brazilian Student Association. Students decorated an interactive booth with cultural stickers, Brazilian music, a ball and a goal to play some soccer, and prepared Brigadeiro, a traditional sweet made out of chocolate and sweet condensed milk. They also performed a play that was the event’s closing act and took the audience straight to Ipanema Beach, in Rio de Janeiro, with different Brazilian dances and songs. 

Pitt State senior Maria Fernanda Vieira is vice-president of the Brazilian Student Association. She said that putting all of this together was a lot of work, especially because of her leadership position, but also lots of fun once she was doing what she likes and working with people she likes—so the result was very rewarding. 

“I love every community event that we have [the opportunity] to leave our mark there, and I feel like we always can do that.”

Vieriea said she’s seen first-hand how events like the showcase make locals more interested in placed like her native Brazil. At the showcase, Vieira said she had been in line to get food when a woman reached out to her to compliment the performance. The woman told her: “Now you’re gonna have to help me, because my daughter wants to go to Brazil.”

“I love seeing this impact on people that never even thought about going to Brazil … to make Brazil be recognized in such a small community as Pittsburg,” Vieira said.

On the other hand, Vieira points out that there’s still a barrier between internationals and Americans.

“At the same time that the Pittsburg community is very welcoming and engaged with the international community and events, the people that go to our events are not the same that are in our daily lives,” she said. “So it’s not the Americans that we have classes together, [with] that we see everyday in the university, our professors … it’s not these people. It’s like very specific people that it becomes a bubble, because it’s not very well spread out about the international things that happen on campus and also outside.”