Students who came to Norris University Center on Sunday were met with the melodies of the Northwestern Community Ensemble, the warmth of Hillel’s chocolate Babka bread and the sight of a blue, red and white Taiwanese flag hanging from the ceiling. 

Bringing together a dozen affinity groups, the Associated Student Government Cultural Summit created a space where students could eat sushi a few feet away from learning to write their names in Armenian. 

“There are so many identity-based groups at NU that provide resources individually,” said Weinberg sophomore Malik Rice, ASG’s co-executive officer of justice and inclusion. “We wanted to put together a stage to showcase all of them, together. There’s so much culture being shared and so much learning happening.”

The summit was held on the second floor of Norris University Center Sunday afternoon. In addition to featuring various cultural groups’ booths, the event also included live performances from NCE, the Philippine American student association Kaibigan and Soul 4 Real, NU’s Black student a cappella group. 

Planning for the summit — held for the first time this year — took nearly six months, according to Rice. 

“A lot of times, when culture comes up on campus, it’s often like something bad is happening in the world or some group did something that offended another group,” said Weinberg sophomore Ty’Shea Woods, who leads ASG’s justice and inclusion committee alongside Rice. “We wanted to create a platform where people can come together and just celebrate culture.”

The Korean American Student Association offered students attending the summit the opportunity to play traditional games such as Ddakji, which is played with paper squares. 

For Weinberg freshman Anthony Chung, the cultural summit was as much about educating himself on other cultures as it was about sharing his Korean American heritage. 

“Learning about other people’s cultures is definitely super interesting,” said Chung, a member of KASA. “It’s an opportunity to reflect on what we do and what other people do, and their lifestyles.”

SESP sophomore Timothy Huff came to the summit as part of Strive, an affinity group at NU for Black men. Huff serves as the group’s event coordinator.

At their booth, Huff and other members of the Strive executive board taught Summit attendees about prominent Black men from the Chicago area, like activist Fred Hampton and explorer Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, who is known as the founder of Chicago. 

“We’re promoting our club since we’re a relatively new club,” Huff said. “We’re also making sure people know about these (historic Black men) and we’re interacting with people in this purposeful setting.”

The Armenian Student Association created a booth at the event to create club visibility, according to Isabel Toghramadjian, the organization’s president and founder. 

At its booth, the group distributed fresh Armenian flatbread and read picture books in Armenian.

“It’s a place to get to know each other, share our culture and speak our language,” Toghramadjian, a Weinberg junior, said. 

Now that the summit has ended, Rice and Woods said they are both looking forward to ASG cultural events in the years to come. 

“There are a lot of pockets of talent and initiative and good ideas,” Woods said. “We’re trying to make unified spaces where these pockets are accessible to the greater student body.”

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Twitter: @BrumerDelilah 

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