Multicultural March - Recap

Multicultural March: 
A month of learning, contributing and reflecting

During the month of March and the first week of April, QF Housing and Residence Life celebrated “Multi-Cultural March”, an initiative designed to bring attention to the diverse student population here at Education City. This project was primarily focused at our residential students, who are predominantly international students. The professional staff worked closely with the Community Development Advisors (CDAs) to plan and implement fun and educational programming throughout the residence halls centered around topics of diversity and multiculturalism. These programming efforts included both educational and social events. However, CDA-sponsored events are only part of the larger picture. Throughout the month, the Housing and Residence Life staff promoted “Culture Through My Eyes”, a photo contest and “Maktub”, an essay contest — both of which allowed students to express their perspectives on diversity and multiculturalism through different types of media. And lastly, the professional staff and the CDAs provided the opportunity for residents to create a multi-cultural quilt piece by piece by asking participants to paint individual squares that will be sewn together for a community quilt.

These events culminated in a week-long celebration of the month’s festivities beginning April 3 and ending April 7th, 2011. The week’s events included the following:

• Sunday, April 3 – Cultural Quiz Night (with games and prizes)
• Tuesday, April 5 – Qatari Culture Night (with free shwarma, karak, a majlis atmosphere, and a demonstration of traditional Qatari games)
• Wednesday, April 6 – Multicultural Movie Night
• Thursday, April 7 – Closing Celebration (this included the presentation of the winners of the photo and essay contests along with food and fun!)

Pictures from Majilis Night: 

The winners of the Maktub Essay contest are:

1. Maahd Shazad (FB3)
2. Fatima Mujahid (SB3)
3. Nadim Rifai (MB3)

Below are the winning submissions for the photo contest:

1. Zainab Sultan (SB2): Four children looking up at camera.
2. Fatima Mujahid (SB3): Decorated camel.
3. Fatima Muneer (SB2): Blackberry phones with abyas.