Collegians Beat Drums for Diversity

You might call it drums of diversity.

For about an hour Thursday, Golden West College’s campus reverberated with the sounds of impromptu drum music. Scores of smiling students and faculty gathered during the lunch period to play an assortment of drums, tambourines and maracas.

Dubbed “the Drumming Experience,” the event was part of the Intercultural Festival of Friendship. The weeklong, annual event celebrates the diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the community college’s 14,281 students.

“The Drumming Experience is a time for all of us to express ourselves together,” said Bruni Cronk, the faculty member who coordinates the campus Intercultural Center. “Drums make people come together; they’ll play drums together regardless of race, color or gender. It’s something they can do and produce together. And it’s fun.”

Yetta Benson, a 75-year-old student from Midway City, was among those in the outdoor audience who swayed and gyrated to the drum music. Benson thumped a tambourine as her contribution to the blended sound.

“I’m originally from Manchester, England, and I think it’s wonderful that this college has a festival such as this,” she said. “This is something in which we all come together. And I just love the music.”

Dean of Social Sciences Donna Willoughby noted that the students in the outdoor crowd were like a microcosm of the world.

“We’ve become much more diverse as a college, and it’s by design,” Willoughby said. “This college wanted to have a diverse enrollment, and we’ve made efforts to attract students from many ethnic backgrounds, and that includes recruiting international students.”

Willoughby said that Golden West College about 20 years ago was almost totally white. Today, by contrast, the college is about 56% Caucasian, 24% Asian, about 10% Latino, and the remainder from a variety of other ethnic groups and nationalities, she said.

Shortly before the drum music began, another intercultural event highlighted the varied backgrounds of the students. Cosmetology majors paraded on an outdoor stage, modeling fashions and hairstyles reflecting their ethnic heritages.

Elizabeth Dilts, 21, of Long Beach said she dressed as a modern Englishwoman because her ancestors came from the British Isles. Describing her hairstyle, she said: “It’s kind of the Twiggy look--Twiggy the model. It’s short, bouffant, parted down the middle and curled under.”

Goska Krol, 35, of Fountain Valley modeled hair and clothing styles of her native Poland. “I came to the United States 22 years ago when my father immigrated,” she said. Her Polish hairstyle, she said, “is elegant and clean-cut.”

Cathy Duong, 20, of Westminster said she was proud to model the clothing and hairstyle of China. “My dad’s from China, and my mother’s from Vietnam,” she said. “I like this festival very much because I can show the clothes of my culture.”

Heather Carr, 21, of Orange and Jenny Reyes, 19, of Los Alamitos coordinated the cosmetologists’ international fashion show. “This (cosmetology) department has a very international group of students, and we wanted to show that we are one--that everyone gets along. Our song (played during the fashion show) was ‘Heal the World’ by Michael Jackson, and we wanted to show that we needed a oneness in this world, and that it can be done.”

Cronk, the faculty member who supervises the Intercultural Center, said college diversity enhances a student’s prospects in the business world. “We’re living in a world economy,” Cronk said. “And here we have the perfect opportunity to learn from one another about other cultures so they can go out there and compete, and do it well. We bring everybody together.”

The college’s Intercultural Festival began Monday and concludes today. Campus officials said that students participate in many events but that the drum playing clearly is the annual favorite.

Jeff Ponce, 26, vice president of student government, looked pleased as he surveyed the big noontime crowd. He said music obviously is a good way to celebrate cultural diversity because music is an international language.

“It’s also a unifying element,” Ponce said. “Music unifies peoples. And we chose drums as our form of music today because drums are very basic. Everybody can play.”

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