Colorado State University-Pueblo Religious Fair took place on April 18, at the Hearthwell Lounge and the Ballroom at the Occhiato University Center. File photo
Colorado State University-Pueblo Religious Fair took place on April 18, at the Hearthwell Lounge and the Ballroom at the Occhiato University Center.
Iver Arnegard, assistant professor of English, put the event together, with collaboration from the Diversity Resource Center.
“DRC is always looking to expand its range of activities and programs that we sponsor or create, and this was an exciting new one brought to us,” said Elizabeth Woods, programming director at DRC.
The Religious Fair was aimed to be a day of religious diversity in Colorado, and brought together different cultures to expand knowledge. The event was planned earlier by the Black Student Organization, but was later taken over by DRC.
“The Black Student Organization came up with the idea of this whole event, but since it closed this year, the DRC got into the idea of this whole event,” said Jibrail Dibble, programming assistant at DRC.
The event started with the Native American dance, followed by the exhibition of different cultural and religious groups through tables.
“It was a chance to network with other religious groups while being educated in a fun interactive way such as with Native American dancers,” Woods said.
In addition, table representatives not only attended but also carried out-group presentations for those in attendance.
“I was informing people about the situation in Tibet and encouraged them to stand up and fight,” said Allison Gigliotti, a student representative at the table for Tibet and Buddhism organization.
The event ended with the Gospel Explosion concert, which began at 6 p.m.
“I just really enjoyed how everybody turned out for the performers and they made a good connection with them,” Dibble said.
The music and dance helped to raise money for an organization named Court Appointed Special Advocates Foundation, which works to help the neglected youth
The preparations for this event began on January 2013, by the whole team of DRC.
“The preparations for the event started at the beginning of the spring 2013 semester. I sang personally, and it took a lot of rehearsals for me and also for the choir, who had to come for practice a day before; while the dancers were rehearsing for about a month,” Dibble said.
The DRC at CSU- Pueblo, is not only known for putting events in bringing people from different backgrounds together on one platform in Pueblo, but this center has been hugely cooperating to expand its services for the people around the state of Colorado.
“As the student lead of programming for the Diversity Resource Center, it is always exciting to have all these ideas and planning on paper turn as a result into a big event. It is something to be really proud of,” Woods said.