TRIO celebrates world cultures with annual dinner

A TRIO student dances on the stage to Michael Jackson at a TRIO dinner on Friday. TRIO is a federally-funded program for unpriveleged youth interested in attending college.

World Dinner Day combines a celebration of different cultures with a variety of performances with a buffet of food from all around the world.

Upward Bound Wichita Prep Group sponsored the event.

The dinner was described on the program as “A Taste of the World in 60 Minutes!” and was held Thursday in the Hughes Metroplex at 29th and Oliver streets.

Upward Bound members Kayla Scott and David Kelly introduced themselves as co-hosts to an audience of parents and family members who smiled with pride as the dinner began. A color guard led by Corporal Kamaris Dickson presented the flags of the United States and Kansas.

Once the flags were presented and the national anthem sung by Kylan Pew, Scott and Kelly recognized distinguished guests, who were applauded by the audience and the students. Next, program director Rhonda Hicks arrived at the front of the room.

“This is a long-standing historical event,” Hicks said, as she spoke to the crowd. She added that the French and German languages and cultures were the emphasis of the dinner.

After Hicks spoke, a presentation over what life in Paris is like was shown. Three girls, named Vanessa, Sydney and Elisha, took to the stage. Two of the girls recited a poem in French, while the other translated it in English for the audience.

Next, a group of dancers, known as The Mini Bolly’s, strode onto the stage and danced to French music for the audience.

Next, a girl named LaMoine Tatum was introduced before she took the microphone and read a poem titled “Operation: One Nation.” Her poem highlighted the differences in all cultures in the world.

“Real eyes recognize real eyes…” Tatum read. “I’m not here to judge you… God created us in our image… We are all family and part of each other… Stop trying to fit into the world, we all know the world isn’t right.”

The final event of the dinner’s first half was a group of dancing mimes called “The French Divas.” The girls danced as mimes and seemed to behave like typical teenage girls; they even took a “selfie” with duckfaces and all.

Following The French Divas performance, guests and students were invited to begin eating dinner.

A group simply named “The Greeks” took the stage to start the show’s second half. The group comprised of three girls, each playing a Greek goddess, all of whom were daughters of the mighty god Zeus.

The Greeks narrated each of their roles in Greek mythology while a video played Greek music in the background.

Afterward, Jaya Escobar, the associate director of the program, spoke to the audience, asking how many proud parents were in the room. Every parent in the room happily raised their hands before Escobar talked about upcoming events. At the end of her speech, Escobar thanked the parents.

“We are very proud of your students,” Escobar said. “They’ve been doing a lot of working. Thank you for letting us be with your students.”

After she spoke, Escobar was presented with a bouquet of flowers as a thank-you from the students and staff of the Upward Bound program.

Following Escobar’s speech, a group called “Wichita Preps” danced to music from the 1920s, which garnered numerous laughs from the audience. After their dance, the audience cheered for a good 20 seconds before Scott spoke.

“Sorry, we have to go back to 2013,” she said.

Up next, the program traveled to Africa with the group “O’ So Beautifuls,” a dancing group that began their performance dancing to African music, before performing with no music at all.

The finale of the program was a dance to Michael Jackson’s hit single “Black or White.” A large group of Upward Bound students went on stage and danced to the song; some of the dancers took the dance to the audience by dancing around the tables where guests were seated.

The audience howled their approval of the performance as the group sat down, and Deltha Colvin, associate vice president of campus life and university relations, began closing remarks.

“Thank you for giving us the opportunity to impress upon a college education and how important it is to set goals for life,” Colvin said, causing the parents to applaud loudly again. “I hope you enjoyed your evening. Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve just had your World Day Dinner, thank you very much.”