The Student Center Ballroom bustled with activity when students attended Eastern Michigan University's second annual Cultural Expo! on Oct. 3, 2026.
Attendees could be found chatting, trying cultural foods, dancing or playing traditional games, all set to a soundtrack of diverse cultural music.
2026 marks the second year that the International Student Association and the Southeast Asian Student Alliance have teamed up to create and host the Cultural Expo.
Sultan Al Sousi, president of ISA, and Matthew Lorenz Medina, president of SEASA, were the ones who put the idea of the Cultural Expo into motion. Al Sousi said that he got this idea when he was at his previous school.
“I used to participate in a very similar event at Schoolcraft Community College called the Multicultural Fair,” Al Sousi said. He explained that the fair was similar to the Cultural Expo and he liked the idea of students having a space to share their cultures on campus.
This year, the Cultural Expo had 14 different student-presented cultures represented. South African culture was represented by T’mae Puckree. Puckree said that the Cultural Expo is a great way to share knowledge and to correct misconceptions.
Another student participating was Trinity Wright from You Beautiful Black Woman, a student organization. Wright and other club members shared African American culture at the Cultural Expo.
Wright said events like Cultural Expo are important.
“It gives everyone a glance and an understanding and a little education on every end. I feel like with a lot of things that happen nowadays, it’s just very important to just be aware and learn from other people," Wright said. "And it’s just fun.”
When asking the opinions of guests, many had positive experiences at the Cultural Expo. Ibrahim said that the best part about events like the Cultural Expo is seeing people get to know each other and getting to know about each other's cultures.
Both Al Sousi and Lorenz Medina are hoping to expand Cultural Expo next year. They said there are about 81 different nationalities represented by students that currently attend EMU.
“There is so much more room for improvement, more outreach, more inclusion," Medina said. "We definitely have the space for it."
A key takeaway from Cultural Expo is how students of all backgrounds can learn to embrace each others' differences, Al Sousi said.
“It generally shows you the beauty and our differences," he said. "We are all different, but that's not something that’s negative. This just shows that we’re all unique.”
