In an effort to celebrate different cultures on campus, one organization is holding a showcase.

The Global Gala Cultural Showcase, sponsored by Delta Phi Lambda Sorority Inc., is held every year at Grand Valley State University. Student organizations gather to put on performances during a three-hour extravaganza. This year, the cultural showcase will take place Friday, Nov. 17, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center Grand River Room.

“This is a multicultural way to promote all the cultures we have on campus, like belly dancing, Asian Student Union (ASU) and other performances on teaching,” said Starr Doan, co-planning chair for the Iota Chapter of Delta Phi Lambda at GVSU. 

Delta Phi Lambda is GVSU’s only Asian-interest sorority, existing at the university since 2009. The group seeks to bring Asian awareness to schools and empower women. Doan said hundreds of students are expected to attend the event, and free food will be served as well. 

According to Doan, the Global Gala is about showing all the cultures at GVSU. The event will begin with a number of performances and is free to the public. Different student organizations, like the ASU, will have performances featuring dances, songs and even calligraphy. This is the first year calligraphy will be available. While the performances change, the message of diversity remains, Doan said.

Doan helped set up the performers who will be presenting. Her colleague and the other co-planning chair of her sorority, Pactra Chab, did a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Chab believes the community around GVSU is a show of diversity. 

“Our mission is to educate and improve Asian awareness in our community and around campus,” Chab said. “We work hard on this and bringing the community together.” 

GVSU’s Latino Student Union will be present at the event as well to teach the crowd how to do a certain dance. Chab said she hopes students will be able to attend and learn about new clubs at GVSU that they might not have known about before.

Chab said this interactive event is a good example of the uniqueness each performance has to offer. According to her, the GVSU community is diverse and the Global Gala is a fun way to learn about it. 

“We are here to bring cultural awareness to the community,” Chab said. “We take pride in our community as well.” 

Chab pointed toward the GVSU Taekwondo Club as another example of an interesting club students can look forward to seeing, saying that they will have a great performance, too.

Between performances, raffle prizes will be given away. These include T-shirts, dining dollars, draw-string bags and more. Doan said West Michigan ShutterBooth will also be stationed for students to take pictures. A DJ from Michigan State University will have a showing during the event as well.