Naperville celebration applauds diversity

Sunday's biting cold didn't stop the parking lot from filling up at North Central College's 12th Annual "Around the Corner, Around the World" international festival in Naperville.

The diversity celebration is cosponsored by the Sunrise Rotary Club of Naperville, North Central College's International Club and the college's Office of International Programs.

Proceeds from the event -- usually between $2,000 and $3,000 -- help fund international scholarships at North Central, both for students leaving town and for those traveling to Naperville from abroad.

Jack Shindler, the college's director of international programs, said as many as 1,000 community members attend the festival every year.

"A big draw is the immersion rooms, where you spend 30 minutes in a classroom immersed in another culture," Shindler said.

The immersion rooms are designed to show visitors how it feels to be in a foreign country where they don't know the language.

"We like to make sure the kids are actually learning something," Shindler said. "We want them to experience a little culture shock."

Sheila Goble, a Naperville resident, visited the Chinese immersion room with her two daughters and part of a Girl Scout troupe from Beebe Elementary School.

"For the last five years, Beebe has created a festival of their own." Goble said. "This year, we decided to use a community project that was already in place instead."

The language immersion rooms are what drew Beebe to the festival, but Goble said she finds the various dance performances throughout the day beneficial as well.

"It's neat for the girls to see kids their own age participating in the dances and keeping up with their own cultures," Goble said. "They go to a school that is very multicultural. That's how the world is now, and it's good to see those differences and to come out and see what everyone else is like."

Bobbie Damani is a young dancer with the NARTAN Indian Dance Group that performed at the festival.

"The festival is really great," Damani said. "It's a nice way to show our culture."

Her teacher, Mrugakschi Patel, who runs the dance group, has been involved in the event since it began.

"The festival is excellent. We all enjoy it," Patel said as she moved toward the stage. "We are about to do the Namashkar at the end of the performance, where we bow down, for art and for everything. It's a blessing."

Melissa Piekos, 10, stood in line to have her portrait drawn at the Japan Club booth.

"They draw it like from TV, the Japanese animation," she said as she waited. "I got my name written in Japanese too."

Piekos said her favorite part of the festival was all the cool things you can buy.

"The festival is good because you can learn about stuff, and it's a fun way to learn," said Hayley Sebahar, 9, who stood in front of Piekos in line.

Other exhibits at the festival featured poncho making, food tasting and various instruments or art forms. Passports were available at the door for kids to have stamped at each booth they visited, and dance performances were held all day in the center of the gym.

The festival was originally intended to highlight the diversity of cultures in the area.

"Some people thought that we lived in a homogenous community, but it really isn't one," Shindler said, pointing out that the various cultural groups represented at the festival all come from the area. "The goal is to learn and to enjoy the variety of cultures. We try to make it multi-experiential, with food, dance and learning, giving people the opportunity to absorb the different cultures in various ways. And of course," he added, "we like them to support our group."