The Student Diversity Board (SDB) held their 10th annual Mosaic Night event from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday evening in Stapleton Lounge.
Senior Nina Andoh, president of SDB, explained the significance of the event for the Saint Mary’s community. She also described how it is connected to SDB’s mission.
“Mosaic [Night] first started 10 years ago, so in 2015, and it was an event to get to know those around you, get to better know your community, especially for the diverse students, so they felt that there was also a place for them within SMC. That is still the main mission of SDB, to make everyone feel welcome, at home, at peace at Saint Mary’s,” Andoh said, “We do so through fun events like this, educational programming and other stuff that overall [is] meant to be fun but also meant to be educationally inclusive.”
At the event, students lined up for tickets to use at three different vendors: Krak Boba, Loupa’s Chicken and Tropicana Ice Cream Shop. Students were also able to engage in different arts and crafts activities, view slideshows of former Saint Mary’s students and Mosaic Nights over the years and receive flyers of various resources on campus. Music from different cultures was played in the background.
Andoh shared that these events help underrepresented and diverse students feel more included and seen on the campus. In its 10th year, she stated that the popularity of this event shows the importance of its presence in the community and how it also reflects the growth of the College as a whole.
Discussing how events such as this one are evidence that the College has become more welcoming over the years, Andoh said, “It means that Saint Mary’s as a community has kept growing and evolving to accommodate for more types of students, for how the world has been changing around it and to keep up with the times. So to have an event like this means a lot to absolutely everybody and everybody before us and everybody who will come after us.”
Senior Alaina Motes explained that she attended the event because she felt last year’s rendition of the event brought more community and belonging to the campus.
“It allows people to come together and see different cultures and experience new things. It allows people to feel more welcome in a community like this,” Motes said.
Freshman Julianna Mader shared that the event was impactful for her due to her ability to meet new students.
“I just met a few other students tonight and I think it's a good way to get everyone acquainted with each other, because you might not be able to do that in your classes, because you might be a little afraid,” Mader said.
Junior Amelia MacEachern emphasized the importance of events like these for bringing diversity to the College.
“I think it's important to celebrate diversity especially in the world that we're in right now with the current economic climate. I think it’s important to celebrate our differences and the history behind being able to do so,” MacEachern said.
Despite a few changes and updates, including the name change to the Division for Belonging from the Division for Equity and Inclusion and less participation from clubs compared to last year, SDB was still able to preserve the event.
“We've had the division that we work under's name change, but that doesn't really change any of the programming or anything that we're going to do. Last year, I know we had some other clubs and organizations do it with us. This year, we did it alone … we wanted to promote some of the other spaces on campus, aside from clubs, so all of the spaces and centers, all of the resources for all students,” Andoh said.
