Photo By: Tori Thomas | Photographer
The student-led program discussed ways to get more students involved in future events, as only a few attended the second cultural potluck.
Close to 10 students attended the first MX event session held on March 3.
Ferris senior social work major Ashley Mitchell and junior operations and supply chain management major Mabel Acosta are two of the student chairs for the program.
“MX events are an opportunity to meet people from different cultures and get to know other people’s opinions and ideas,” Acosta said.
Mitchell said the biggest struggle MX is facing is students hearing the word ‘multicultural’ and thinking it doesn’t apply to them.
“A lot of people that hear the word ‘multicultural’ think you have to be something other than white to be considered multicultural, but that isn’t the case,” Mitchell said. “We’re really just trying to spread overall multicultural awareness over the entire campus.”
Ferris freshman allied health sciences major Kelsey Wickering did not attend the MX event, but plans to attend their events in the future.
“I see where they’re coming from [regarding white people being considered multicultural],” Wickering said. “I think the word ‘multicultural’ includes Caucasians because to us, people from other cultures are different, but to people from those cultures, we’re the ones that are different. It just depends on their perspective.”
Mitchell plans to talk with professors and collaborate with other organizations to get more students involved.
Three more MX Connect Sessions will occur on March 31, April 14 and April 28.
Along with the bi-weekly potlucks, MX plans to host three other events to get students involved this semester including What is MX, Larger Scope and a collaboration event with the office of international education.