Office of Multicultural Affairs hosts welcome social
From left, Adonai Ghebrekidan, Akeah Aschmeller and Alea Cailles get acquainted at the Office of Multicultural Affair’s Welcome Back Reception on Aug. 29.
September 5, 2019
The Office of Multicultural Affairs welcomed new and returning students to SDSU with a welcome social from noon to 4 p.m. on Aug. 29.
The event, which took place in the Multicultural Center, gave students opportunities to connect with old and new friends, get information about student organizations, meet professors and advisers and partake in snacks, drinks and ice cream.
Ahlea Callies, a sophomore human development and family studies, recently transferred from to SDSU from her original university. She used the social as an opportunity to meet new people.
“I really wanted to get involved in the multicultural community and find a place where I could feel normal,” Callies said. “If you’re away from your culture for too long, you lose that part of you.”
Once the social was underway, Callies said she knew she found a “safe haven.”
“It’s just my first time in here, but I get this sense of community more than anywhere on campus,” Callies said.
Dr. Florencio Uranda III, the multicultural Latinx retention adviser, said the office hopes that students can find a home away from home in the Multicultural Center and that its events are meant to connect people from across campus, regardless of their backgrounds.
“It serves as a location where students can come and receive tutoring, utilize computer space and study rooms and a place for them to interact with people who … share the same backgrounds,” Aranda said.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs is offering many events this semester to sate students’ desire for community and to fulfill common class requirements of attending multicultural events over the course of the semester.
The office’s next event will be a CommUNITY Meeting with Ebony Stewart, a former sexual health instructor who will discuss body image, relationships and identity, at 6 p.m. on Sept. 5 in the Lewis and Clark Room. The office will also sponsor several events for Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins mid-September. Other multicultural events will include a film screening, a symposium on sex trafficking, a dance fiesta and more.
