By Diane DeBiase—

The Recognizing and Celebrating Ethnicities (R.A.C.E.) annual gala held by Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority was held on November 29th in the GSUB, and was an amazing display of colors, music, dancing and life.

Flags from multiple countries lined the entire front and sides of the gala room. Each table that was set up for the guests had a specific flower centerpiece on it from various nations. The DJ played multicultural music as diverse performers sung, danced and spoke.

Each person represented a different culture and each person relayed to the audience the diversity at NJCU.

Some of the performers told interesting facts about their cultures, like Abdou Mboup.

“In Senegal, people can tell where you are from by the way your music sounds and the instruments you play,” said Mboup.

Another speaker, Maryam Mahmoud, spoke about Egyptian culture, “what most people don’t know about Egypt is that it is part of Africa. Most believe it is a Middle Eastern country when in reality it is African.”

After the spoken word and music subsided for intermission, guests were invited to the buffet of multi- cultural foods. There was a selection of Chinese, Italian, Jamaican, Puerto Rican and other foods as well. All the guests were encouraged to sample the different offerings. The food was catered by the NJCU food service (Gourmet Dining) and was a big hit among all of the guests.

After the intermission, Arts United Capoeira of Jersey City, one of the highlights of the night, wowed the crowd with their Brazilian dancing, which is a mixture of martial arts, music and singing. It was an amazing show to watch. More singing, dancing and poetry followed to cap off this entertaining yet informative evening.

Mu Sigma Upsilon is the first multi-cultural sorority in the entire nation. The intent of the sorority is to “foster and instill multicultural awareness, which is the foundation of our organization.” The sorority holds this event every year free of charge and hopes to draw a crowd that will see what they are striving for on the campus at NJCU…Cultural Awareness among all the students.

The performers at the show were John Carlos, Maryam Mahmoud, Sara Guttman, Ugochukwu Agomoh, Nurys Orozco, Kenza Ashley, Qi Chu, Brandon Littlepage, Arts United Capoeira, Abdou Mboup, Derick Ansah and Jerica Hayes.