RAH Around the World celebrates diversity at Rowan

3056
RAH Around the World passport. -Photo editor/Nicole Mingo

Thursday night, Rowan After Hours (RAH) paired up with Study Abroad and International Studies to bring culture and the celebration of different countries with RAH Around the World in the Chamberlain Student Center. Students from all different clubs, organizations and areas of the world came together to celebrate their culture through food, crafts and performances.

Right after checking in, students got to grab their own passport and travel the globe, going from stand to stand to learn all about the different clubs offered at Rowan.

One of the performances of the night was Polkadelphia, a German and Polish music group from Philadelphia. Dan Nosheny, a band member, was all dressed up for the event in his traditional German garb.

Philadelphia-based polka band “Polkadelphia” perform at RAH Around the World in the Chamberlain Student Center on March 1, 2018. -Photo Editor/ Nicole Mingo

“We do traditional German and Polish music but we also like to take classic pop tunes and polkafy them, so we’ve got a great version of some Beatles tunes, we’ve got some Radiohead, we’ve got a great Total Eclipse of the Heart, and so we kinda keep it interesting that way” Nosheny said.

Nosheny and his band have played at Rowan before during the 2014 Proftober Fest, bringing along with them the culture of traditional polka.

“I am hoping to make some people do some silly things and silly gestures and some of the audience participation parts that we have, if I can get that then ill be happy,” Nosheny said.

Along with traditional style polka, there were several organizations promoting studying abroad to a specific location. Izzy Wellman, a sophomore communication studies major, was part of the Rowan University Hillel group sharing their knowledge of the Israeli Taglit-Birthright trip, a 10-day trip to Israel Jewish students can take for free.

RAH Around the World wheel celebrating different countries at the International Studies table. -Photo Editor/ Nicole Mingo

“We are a social Jewish organization. We focus both on the religion and the culture but we have a focus a lot on the cultural aspect so we do a lot of Friday events to celebrate the sabbath and everything,” Wellman said. “We do a lot of interface events and we do a lot of social action, so we stand for Israel, we stand for equality and we stand for good food.”

Hillel had food and activities at their table. They spent a lot of time talking about and promoting the Birthright trip, especially to Jewish students.

“Every Jewish person deserves the chance to go to Israel at least once in their life,” Wellman said.

Students who attended the event boasted about the cultural diversity RAH brought to the Student Center. Maddi Schille, a junior vocal education major, came out to experience delicious food, good company and meet up with her friends.

“[I came] to learn more about clubs on Rowans campus that I otherwise wouldn’t have known existed. I’ve already learned about three clubs that I didn’t even know that we had, which is really cool,” Schille said. “Like the Spanish club, you would think it would be obvious but I had no idea, and they’re really passionate which is really nice.

Rowan Rangeela at their table. -Photo Editor/Nicole Mingo

RAH Around the World, co-sponsored with Study Abroad and International Studies, gave students the chance to experience different clubs about cultures all within Rowan University.

For questions/comments about this story, email features@thewhitonline.com or tweet @TheWhitOnine.

Comment