By: Lindsey Gomez
The Saudi student club celebrated Saudi National Day on Sept. 25, 2017.
The entire main room of Blum Union displayed Saudi Arabia all the way around. Poster boards full of Saudi information such as the kingdom’s innovations and foreign involvements were included as well as beautiful golden-brown dates, robust smelling Arabic coffee and Arabic food.
Mohammed Alqarni, president of the Saudi student club, said he hopes to share the culture of his country with the students on campus.
“We hope they get to know about our culture, our country and speak with other students from Saudi Arabia,” Alqarni said.
Miranda Durr, a Baptist student union member, said she has a lot of Saudi friends from previously attending Western. However, that did not stop her from gaining new knowledge while attending the event.
“I learned that Saudi Arabia is building the Jeddah Tower which is really cool,” Durr said. “Also, learning my name in the Arabic alphabet was definitely a lot of fun.”
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established on Sept. 23, 1932, by King Abdul-Aziz, who brought many regions together to unite as one kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has been taking the initiative as a country to become more innovative and eventually open their borders to welcome guests from other countries to view their breathtaking world. Politically, Saudi Arabia has stood with the United States recently to help the country recover from Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma.
Dr. Robert Bergland, a Western professor and faculty advisor of Saudi student club, said this will help students be aware of other cultures and educate themselves about Saudi Arabia.
“They may misinterpret who the Saudi students are,” Bergland said. “The main advantage of this event is to bring awareness of the great diversity we have on campus of different students.”
The Saudi National Day Celebration taught many students that Saudi Arabia is growing creatively in their mind-set and one day soon will be ready for exploration of new guests.
