Dinner introduces international students to Thanksgiving
More than 100 students gathered in the Our Lady of Wisdom Newman Center Thursday night to attend the 16th annual International Thanksgiving Dinner Program.
The program, hosted by Dr. Kyung-il Ghymn, professor of marketing at the University of Nevada, Reno, gives international students and scholars a chance to take part in the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We want a chance to learn about each others’ culture,” Ghymn said. “Every table at the event included them [international students] to feel that they can participate in an American holiday. Diversity and inclusiveness is what we should do on the university campus.”
The program gives international students and American students an American host that will help start conversation and answer questions relating to Thanksgiving and other American traditions.
Andrew Rice, a political science major, attended the event as a host for a learning experience.
“I came here to be a host and share the culture and to learn about other cultures,” Rice said. “It would be nice to make new friends.”
Ghymn started the program after coming to America in 1967 for his masters of business administration. He moved from South Korea where he was a fighter pilot for the military. He spent his first Thanksgiving holiday alone in his dormitory. The experience of spending Thanksgiving alone inspired Ghymn to start the International Thanksgiving Dinner Program.
This year’s event helped international students better understand Thanksgiving with a speech given by Gary Bradford of the Nevada Prison Ministry. Bradford explained the origins of Thanksgiving, as well as the act of foreignness.
Father Frank Hoffermann of Our Lady of Wisdom Newman Center served the international demographic by giving a nondenominational Indian prayer before the dinner was served.
The event was sponsored by the Newman Center and the International Student Christian Association. Campus Crusades for Christ and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Christian clubs on campus, also helped run the event.
Jay Stearley, a 29 year-old UNR alum, said the leaders of the groups get together once a month to plane and help out with events such as the International Thanksgiving Dinner.
Stearley, once a student of Ghymn, has helped run the event in past years.
Monique Normand, member of the Campus Crusades for Christ, has been involved with the International Thanksgiving for three years. She explains how the event benefits all students.
“It’s a really good way of meeting international students,” Normand said. “It’s a good way for us to help international students and a good way for international students to help us learn.”
Shahnewaz Mohammad, an international student of hydrology, attended the event last year. He enjoyed the experience and now plans to celebrate Thanksgiving with his wife. This year he brought his friend Manoj Menon to the dinner.
“It’s nice to better understand the culture,” Menon said. “If I was alone, I would not have tried it.”
This year’s International Thanksgiving Dinner Program was held in the Catholic Newman Center. In years past the event was held in the Jot Travis Student Union where four times as many students could attend. Due to the smaller space, students were required to RSVP for the event.
“We used to have the event in the JTSU and it would accommodate around 470 students,” Ghymn said. “For the first time we have a limited amount of students that can come.”
Ghymn also hosts an event during spring break that serves hot dogs and hamburgers while teaching the meaning of Easter to the international demographic.
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