The multicultural community at Ohio University is rich with excellence, creativity and tradition. One of those long-standing traditions is the Multicultural Exposition.
The expo allows the multicultural organizations to come together for the first time in the academic year to showcase the support and community offered at OU for minority students.
“The most important factor that I think can be seen throughout all of Ohio’s multicultural organizations is the sense of belonging that students get when being around the members of these organizations,” Joi Foy, a junior studying journalism, said.
The expo is hosted by the Black Student Union, or BSU, and will be held this year on Aug. 30 from 6-9 p.m. in Baker Ballroom.
“There will be so many different opportunities to connect with people,” Trinity Robinson, a junior studying business, said. “Even outside of learning about organizations, you'll be able to connect with new people and make new friends.”
Robinson is the president of BSU, a LINKS peer mentor, a College of Business ambassador and has formerly served as treasurer for the Student Senate, but her work with BSU is especially important to her.
“The space overall has become a home for me, especially the people in the org themselves,” Robinson said.
BSU will host several events throughout the year, but the expo is the kickoff to their year of extensive programming.
This event features informative tables, performances and food and is somewhat similar to the involvement fair, but with a more concentrated goal.
“It gives especially the new Black kids in school, whether they're transfer students or freshmen, it gives them a place to find people that look like them," J Pressley Mcilwain, a sophomore studying psychology and communications, said.
Organizations such as FACES modeling, the Divine 9 and Athens Black Contemporary Dancers will perform during the expo.
“I was coming in cold from across the country, I didn’t know anybody, and F.A.C.E.S was one of the first organizations to really take me under their wing,” Mcilwain said.
Mcilwain is now the vice president of FACES Modeling and has been working on their expo performance over the summer.
“I feel like you could expect a new flair on FACES,” Mcilwain said.
Mcilwain is also a general body member of the Ohio University Recruiting Society, or OURS, an organization that focuses on multicultural recruitment and retention.
“They make an effort to really connect with the underclassmen that may have a hard time, you know, making friends with other people,” Mcilwain said. “They really want to build a community within their group, so I applaud that.”
FACES, OURS and BSU are only a few of the student organizations for multicultural Bobcats at the university. Other organizations geared toward different backgrounds such as the Latino Student Union and the Asian American/Pacific Islander Student Union will be present for students to check out.
Foy holds a plethora of leadership roles within the community, serving as the president of the Black Student Communication Caucus and the Multicultural Sports Organization Professionals and co-president of Ebony Minds.
“The main impact I hope incoming students see through my leadership is that they can do this too and also that they have support at Ohio,” Foy said.
Ebony Minds, which is dedicated to education on the struggles of Black women, is an organization dear to Foy’s heart.
“The women of the organization, those that have graduated and are still in the organization have become my family and made my transition to college so smooth,” Foy said.
All in all, many of OU’s multicultural students have found their home away from home in these organizations, and they hope you join their families this year.
“We welcome everybody, we want everybody to come,” Robinson said.
