Chau Vu ’26 can’t wait to bring a little bit of her world to Kenyon when she leads a traditional Vietnamese lacquer painting workshop as part of Global Engagement Week.
“I’ve been pursuing Vietnamese lacquer art for a little over 10 years now,” said Vu, one of more than 200 international students on campus. “I know how very diverse the Kenyon community is, so I wanted to bring my own creative aspect from Vietnam to Kenyon.”
Known as sơn mài, the unique artform involves painting using eggshells and will take place Oct. 23 in Hoehn-Saric House, home to the Center for Global Engagement (CGE). Vu’s lacquer workshop, which she also taught last year, is one of several programs initiated by students during a special week promoting global appreciation from Oct. 21-25.
“This is probably the most robust Global Engagement Week that we’ve had,” said Marne Ausec, CGE director. “We hope it’s a mix between sessions where students can learn either from an academic perspective or a co-curricular perspective or where they can just have fun.”
The week kicks off Monday with a cricket game sponsored by the South Asian Society. Other programs presented by students, faculty and staff include a public reading of student translations, sessions related to off-campus study, and an “Eastern European Kitchen” event featuring a variety of cuisine. View a complete list of events.
The students behind the culinary program hope to use it as a launching pad for a club focusing on Eastern European culture. It just made sense to start with food, according to Natalia Segelbach ’28, who is organizing the event with Jackie Samandas ’25 and Kathy Georgieva ’28.
“It’s something that I think is very important to our culture, and it’s something that brings us together,” said Segelbach, a New York City resident whose parents came from a region along the border of Poland and Ukraine. “If we’re planning to be together and sit at a table and talk about Eastern European traditions and food and culture, there has to be something on the table for us to eat. And I think we have pretty good food, honestly.”
The program will take place Thursday at the Hoehn-Saric House kitchen, frequently used by international students who stay on campus during breaks. Participants will learn how to make a savory pastry from Bulgaria called banitsa and also try Ukrainian borscht, a fruit drink called kompot and more.
Samandas, a Chicago-suburb resident whose parents are from Ukraine and Belarus, said she’s excited to explore her identity with others — both students who have roots in the region and those who are just interested in learning more about it.
“The goal is really to just bring people together and talk about the diversity and all of the cool stuff that exists within Eastern Europe,” she said.
Rebecca Eckart ’07, associate director of international students and scholars at CGE, said she is thrilled at the level of student leadership in this year’s events and hopes there’s something for everyone.
“The goal is to help people learn about other cultures, other parts of the world,” she said.
“If students can experience even just one thing throughout the week that helps them learn something that they didn’t know or maybe reflect on the Kenyon community in terms of how global and intercultural we are, it will be worth it.”