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A cultural explosion hits USCC

Story and photos by Tommy Gilligan, Assistant Editor

The fourth and fifth floors of Washington Hall became an international zone as more than 1,000 cadets, faculty, Family and staff filled the halls for the first International Day held at West Point Jan. 27.

The event was a collaborative effort of the Depts. of Foreign Language and Social Sciences, the Cadet Respect Staff, the Equal Opportunity Office, the international cadets and the Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic.

“Having been an exchange student at the Brazilian Military Academy (Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras) and seeing their tribute on the Fourth of July to myself and cadet (Firstie Kyle) Mayfield, I wanted to give a tribute to our international cadets,” Firstie Andrew T. Branch, Respect Captain, said.

As Branch and others arrived back on campus this past fall, the planning for International Day began in early October. “With these friends that I have made, I feel as if I could go anywhere in the world and ‘belong’ ... to me that is powerful. They are my heroes,” Branch said.

With many members of the faculty getting involved, the notion was simple––give these international cadets a venue to show the community who they are.

“These cadets wanted a forum to show the rest of the corps about their countries culture and military,” Maj. Zack F. Miller, Portuguese instructor, said. “We wanted to showcase all 56 of our international cadets, so we divided them into geographical regions to emphasize the different areas that they came from.”

Throughout the 12 rooms on the fourth floor, cadets and visiting foreign officers set up multi-media presentations, displayed artifacts and symbols that represented their countries and served food that represented the true flavors of their homes.

“They went out and spoke with a variety of businesses for help setting up their room displays,” Miller said. “Some of the cadets traveled as far as Northern New Jersey to gain assistance for obtaining their authentic cuisine for the evening.”

The rest of the cadets and other attendees traveled from room to room, each of them carrying a mythical passport for travel. At each room they entered and gained knowledge from, they received a stamp symbolizing their ‘trip’ to another country. Five hundred passports were printed, but they ran out of them early in the evening.

To heighten the learning experience of the cultural diversity, live demonstrations were held in an auditorium on the fifth floor, some by the international cadets and cadets of other ethnic backgrounds and some by outside individuals, to show what their countries had to offer.

From Brazilian folk songs to Malaysian dancers, the audience experienced a cultural explosion that would be hard to find in one central location anywhere else.

The event far exceeded the expectations of everyone in the planning cell, from the overwhelming support of the community to the cadets volunteering to do even the smallest details. Plans for next year are already underway. With thoughts of improving this great event, one can only imagine how high the bar will be set next year.