By Alexander Gilbert
On Saturday afternoon in Rivers Memorial Hall, November 2, students, faculty, and guests enjoyed an afternoon full of performances, food, and socializing at the annual World Fest event. World Fest is a large-scale event on campus that celebrates countries and cultures worldwide, with an afternoon full of delicious food, exciting performances, giveaways, raffles, and time to socialize with friends, family, and faculty.
World Fest was planned and hosted by the student-led club United and Mutually Equal and has been an annual tradition at Western New England University for years. Naressa Kempadoo, a senior health science major, is the president of U&ME and planned the event alongside their faculty advisor and other student leaders.
Kempadoo and U&ME organized various performers to entertain guests, provide an atmosphere for the event, and show off performance styles of different cultures. Kempadoo explained that “performances help us dive deeper into different cultures by getting to experience a taste of what they do, the significance of it, and learning more about the culture itself.”
“The performances vary each year,” Kempaddo said, “this year we had four outside performances and three [Western New England University]-related ones.” The performers invited from outside the Western New England University community included Taikoza, Rick Reyes, STEP Suzuki, and Kotchegna.
Taikoza, a music group originating from New York City, brought original and exciting music inspired by Japan’s culture of music and performance, performed passionately through Taiko drums and the shakuhachi flute.
Rick Reyes, a songwriter who spent a large portion of his childhood in Puerto Rico, brought his love of Jibaro music to the stage through vocals and guitar.
STEP Suzuki Strings, a local multi-generational ensemble inspired by Japanese violinist and philosopher Shinichi Suzuki, performed music from Suzuki’s works.
The Kotchegna Dance Company performed an exciting dance routine to the rhythm of drums, with a memorable performance inspired by the culture of Africa’s Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, or Ivory Coast.
The other performances, by students of Western New England University, consisted of Maahi Shah singing a Bollywood song in Hindi, a Salsa Social, which is a regular U&ME weekly event run by Ksenia Kessler and Maya Monteverde-Cakebread, and the Golden Steppas.
The Golden Steppas is a step team at Western New England University, founded in 2021 by Mercedes McInnis, a senior psychology major. McInnis described the Golden Steppas as a “close-knit, family-like team brought together by our shared rhythm, passion, and creativity. We’re a diverse group of 15 dedicated students who express ourselves
through stepping—a dynamic mix of dance, percussion, and storytelling.”
McInnis recognized that “one of the unique aspects of our performance is incorporating spoken elements into our steps.” She continued to explain that “stepping is deeply rooted in African dance traditions, focusing on rhythm and body expression. Historically, stepping emerged as a form of communication among enslaved Africans who were silenced and had to rely on their bodies and rhythm to express themselves.”
On stage, McIniss felt the importance of their performance and realized that “by including our voices in our performance, we honor this history and celebrate the power of expression.”
This was the third year that the Golden Steppas performed at World Fest, which held a lot of emotional significance for senior members who were involved during the Golden Steppas’ debut performance at World Fest a few years back. McIniss said that “performing at World Fest, where it all began, is truly an honor” and that the team “had an amazing time this year, sharing our performance, enjoying the different acts, tasting the wonderful food, and feeling support from everyone who’s been with us for the past three years.”
In addition to the captivating and culturally representative performances, World Fest offers guests a large assortment of appetizers, meals, and desserts from various cultures across the globe free of charge. Kempadoo described that “food is important as it is another way to learn about a culture and how they use their resources to make delicious cuisines” and that she loves seeing how “food always brings people together to celebrate.”
Selecting and ordering the food to feed the large crowds at World Fest is a massive, but exciting project for United & Mutually Equal. “We go through what we ordered the year before and adjust accordingly to what people liked and didn’t like,” Kempadoo explained. To represent additional cultures in the menu, U&ME also regularly looks for new restaurants and options nearby. Information about what was ordered is written in U&ME’s write-up reports so future student leaders can refer back to previous years’ notes when planning events.
Kempadoo has “heard nothing but great things from people,” noting there is “never a bad thing said about the food we provide.” Although a tough choice, Kempadoo said her favorite food at the event was the Spanish rice and samosas.
World Fest is a special event on campus that celebrates and represents cultures from across the world through captivating live performances, delicious food, and over 100 flags of countries displayed on the walls of Rivers Memorial Hall. Kempadoo believes in the importance of recognizing cultures from across the globe, saying that “everyone deserves to be represented and celebrated. All cultures are all unique and should be appreciated.”
If anyone is interested in getting involved with United and Mutually Equal can join in at weekly meetings on Mondays at 5:00 p.m. in the Cultural Center. Kolu Sharpe, the Director of Cultural Education and Inclusion, has her office in the Student Hub and is able to answer more questions about the club and cultural inclusion on campus.
In addition, anyone interested in watching the Golden Steppas perform can see them next during the men’s basketball game against the University of Hartford on December 4 in the AHLC.
