Team behind Culture Night

The team behind Culture Night

Student club leadership discusses Culture Night and their role in its organization

BY CARLENE COOMBS

In preparing for Culture Night, members of the student club leadership shared the behind-thescenes of Culture Night and how their role as a leadership team was to work with clubs and individuals to help them feel more comfortable and get the most out of Culture Night.

Hei Long Ip, a senior from Hong Kong majoring in business management, said he was excited for Culture Night because they get to see all the work that goes into the night.

“To me, the exciting part is to see their efforts… their blood and tears… The audience doesn’t know. They just see that 8-minute performance, but they don’t know how much… planning and time they spent on it. But we, as a management team, we know. “What makes me excited is their smiles, their excitement, their attitude, their appreciation of their culture. The attitude from them makes me more excited to help them let their culture shine in front of the world.” Ip added he believes Culture Night is something BYUH students are blessed with and is something that sets the university apart from others.

“I think Culture Night is a privilege the school provides to the students. Culture Night is very unique. None of the other BYU [schools] have it.”

Talamonu Tupou, a junior from Tonga majoring in accounting, said, “If we recall Brother David O. McKay’s prophesy of Laie being a gathering place for the people of … the Pacific, we have to integrate Culture Night into the fulfilling of that prophecy.”

Mark Lois Eyo, a senior from the Philippines majoring in TESOL and political science, said Culture Night is about displaying the hard work put into the performances.

“Culture Night is not a competition. I think we should try to clarify that. Culture Night is where you showcase your talent because you want to be united with the community. You want to showcase your talent because you want to be your best around people who are your friends and who are your loved ones.”

Eyo also shared being part of the leadership team is more than being in charge.

Student leaders left to right are: Talamonu Tupou, Mark Lois Eyo, Hei Long Ip, and Samuel Jonata de Souza. With Culture Night canceled just days before the performances, this team and club members on campus say they worked hard to promote cultural understanding and unity. Photo by Keyu Xiao

“I think as a leadership team, our goal is to empower the individual clubs. We don’t want to be seen as someone on top of the clubs, but someone who works with the clubs to empower them so they can do better. We work with them so they can better serve the individual students.”

Tupou said his responsibility of helping the students and club members is the most important part of his job as the Asian clubs supervisor.

“For me, it’s about people. It’s about individuals. Our titles are supervisor and club manager, and it seems like people think we are there to control them and what they’re doing. At the end of the day, it’s bringing people together and helping them have a better experience at BYUH.”

Samuel Jonata de Souza, a senior from Brazil majoring in supply chain, shared he values the work put in by the students of the clubs, especially the club presidents.

“I just love working with the students… especially the [club] presidents. I just appreciate how they have everything I have, and they add another huge responsibility of being a club president.”

Organizing events such as Club Fest, Culture Night, and Food Fest is part of what club leadership does. Along with these tasks, they also work with the club supervisors, according to Eyo.

Eyo explained the main thing they do is work with the supervisors as they work with the clubs. “We work with all the student clubs on campus, whether it's a cultural club, an academic club, or a special interest club.”

Helping clubs through the logistics of their performances and making sure everything is going to go smoothly for Culture Night is another thing the team does, according to Souza.

“We have a big Culture Night meeting where we teach them the basics. We have a more individual meeting where we go over every little thing they need to do in order to not be too stressed out. We help them do the little details, the budget, the presentation.” Eyo also shared they help with setting guidelines for events such as Culture Night. “We started with setting the rules for Culture Night, like what are the standards. We still need to keep the dress and grooming standards even if it’s Culture Night. There needs to be limited hours of practice per week. It’s two hours per week.” •