By Sara Howell-Floyd
Recently at Louisiana Tech, the International Student Association hosted its annual International Scholarship Dinner, and ISA members stated the event was a fun night filled with food and entertainment.
President of the ISA Dalia El-Giar shared that while the event was stressful, it was a success.
“The event went really well,” said El-Giar. “I am always amazed by the international student committee and how they always show up for things and support the rest of the communities.
“The most prominent point of the evening for me was actually at the end when everyone came together to clean up, it really represents our community and how we come together, I almost started crying.”
Lukas Prestenbach, ISA member, said that this event is important to the organization and fellow students.
“This event helps to raise money for scholarships to help give students like the ones in our club the opportunity to get an education here at Louisiana Tech,” Prestenbach said. “The event also gives us the opportunity to give people on our campus and in our community a better understanding of various cultures.”
Attendance for the event went well, which meant a lot, especially since the event was cancelled last year due to COVID.
“Attendance at the event was amazing; we basically sold out of the 400 tickets we were selling,” El-Giar said. “We only put out 360 chairs because we did not think we would get that many people, but there wasn’t an empty seat in the place.”
The event was a fun-filled evening with both entertainment and food.
A few of the dishes that were served at the event included chicha, hummus, fattoush, moi moi, biryani and nian gao, Jada Holmes, an ISA member, said.
“Most of the international students at Tech are Middle Eastern or South Asian so most of the food represented those cultures,” Holmes said.
The food that was served also had ties to the Lincoln Parish community. Hodge Market in Grambling provided some of the food including hummus and pita chips.
“I liked all the food but one of my favorites of the night was the Fattoush, which is a salad with radishes, green onions, and a really good tangy and savory dressing,” El-Giar said. “The pita chips from Hodge Market with it were also really good.”
The evening was also filled with a variety of performance including traditional dances and musical selections to represent students’ respective cultures.
El-Giar said that overall, the night was a big success.
“This night was a reflection on how important international students are here on this campus and it was a statement to Tech that international students matter here on campus,” El-Giar said. “Our next event will be India Night coming up in April and we hope to have a big success there as well.”
