On Friday night, the Memorial Hall Ballroom was packed with students excited about fall decorations, Indian cuisine and this year’s fall fling hosted by the University of Georgia Indian Students Association.
As the evening began, students signed in and socialized before finding their seats to enjoy the program.
Presenters started the show by engaging with the audience by asking ice-breaking questions such as ‘Where is your favorite place in Athens so far?’ and “What was your biggest culture shock coming to America?” It helps us get to know each other.
ISA is under the Department of International Student Life and caters to international students, mainly postgraduate students, who historically come to UGA from India.
ISA president Richa Bajaj said it was difficult for students to be so far from their families and hometowns. ISA wants to give them a community here in Athens.
“Because we are so far from home, we strive to bring our community together so that our culture can be encountered, explored and relived,” Bajaj said. It’s easy to get depressed, so it’s important to get together often to meet like-minded people and others who can proudly showcase their diversity and culture.”
The UGA Indian Students Association hosted its annual Fall Festival on September 9, 2022 at the Memorial Hall Ballroom. (Ireland Hayes/staff)
After completing the first round of crowd engagement, several students and their families took to the stage to showcase their talents through individual and group performances of song and dance.
Between performances, the emcee continued to interact with the audience through games such as charades, trivia, and quizzes on UGA football facts.
After all the performances, the crowd was divided into four groups and two students from each were nominated to run for Mr. and Miss Fresher, representing the 2022 freshman class.
Each contestant took the stage to show off their stuff pageant-style and answer personality questions so the audience could learn more about them. Before voting, we showed off the best dance moves and chose Uday Vishal Nimmakayala as Mr. Fresher and Sravani Komaravolu as Miss. Fresher.
Dinner was served during the program and included a variety of Indian dishes such as biryani and vermicelli halwa.
The UGA Indian Students Association hosted its annual Fall Festival on September 9, 2022 at the Memorial Hall Ballroom. (Ireland Hayes/staff)
At the end of the night, Bajaj took the stage to thank everyone who came to the event.New ISA committee members were announced and new ISA T-shirt designs were unveiled. After the closing remarks, the students took pictures with their friends on the photo wall, introduced themselves to the new students, and danced.
Sophomore Susmitha Kalli, a graduate student studying agricultural economics, said this was her second fall fling. She decided to participate again this year to connect with more Indian students.
“I have a busy schedule with classes and I don’t have time to meet other Indian students, so this is an opportunity to meet new people,” Kali said.
Event co-presenter Darpan Shrivastava said this year’s program is for books.
“Everyone had a lot of fun. There were many events and the food was amazing,” said Shrivastava.
A second-year graduate student studying cybersecurity, Shrivastava will join ISA in 2021. This is his first year at UGA. He attended the event last year, but he didn’t make it to the show. Being a co-organizer has been a wonderful new experience and he appreciates the great efforts of his ISA committee to organize the programme.
“The whole committee has put in a lot of effort this time around and I am really happy to confirm that they are actually taking Fall Fling and all the events to the next level compared to previous events,” said Shrivastava. says Mr. “In my opinion, this was the best fall fling ever.”
.
Comments
Post a Comment