Cultural Evening brought the world under one roof with an array of culturally diverse performances hosted in the Bayou Theater.

"Where in the World Have You Been" was the theme for this year's Cultural Evening sponsored by the International Student Organization. The event had an attendance of more than 450 people including faculty, staff and students.

Poonam Chhipwadia, president of ISO, opened the event by welcoming the audience, followed by opening remarks from President William Staples. Ketan Chhipwadia, master of ceremonies and community member, introduced the performances.

"One of the most important things people learn from Cultural Evening is how much representation we have on our campus," said Lisa James, vice president of ISO.

The countries that participated in the Cultural Evening included: India, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, Mexico, United States, Spain and Pakistan.

"We hope to promote interpersonal and intercultural awareness," Chhipwadia said.

The audience was entertained by a variety of cultural performances including dances, guitar solos, poetry reading and a fashion show. A total of 15 different performances were featured. The acts were performed by students and staff.

"I am glad that some of the staff from the alumni and multicultural office participated in the Western song performance," Chhipwadia said.

The performances came to a close with the cultural walk fashion show. The fashion show has been a main attraction in previous Cultural Evenings and this time was no exception.

"This year we had all the cultural walks for all the countries in one time slot, unlike previous times," James said.

During the fashion show, students got an opportunity to model their traditional clothing.

"Those students who did not have enough people to represent their country in a performance participated in the fashion show modeling their traditional wear," said Elinor Farmer, event coordinator and student government association representative of ISO.

After the performances, the audience was treated to a reception in Atrium I. Appetizers from around the world were served.

"The reception gave people a chance to taste foods from all around the world," Farmer said.

Cultural Evening not only plays an important role in ISO's mission as an organization, but also to the UH-Clear Lake community. Aside from giving students, faculty and staff a chance to come together to watch a show, the event teaches people about the different cultures on campus.

"You get an opportunity to actually see where these students come from," Farmer said. "They are representing a country, but they are also showing us who they are through their performances."

Although ISO organized the event, there would not have been a Cultural Evening without the help of other student organizations and individual students says Denise L. Shipley, coordinator of multicultural and international student services and adviser of ISO.

"We could not have done this without the help of the university offices, our volunteers and participants, Aramark, and the restaurants who delivered the food fresh for the reception," Chhipwadia said. "But first and foremost, we would like to thank our adviser, Denise Shipley."

ISO's goal is to attract more people to become involved in next year's Cultural Evening.

"We want to show these students how well things went this year and how it can be even better with their participation," Chhipwadia said. "We want to show them that their participation is missed by a lot of people who want to know why certain countries were not represented."

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