The ULM Diversity Committee held its annual Mix-It-Up at Lunch event at Schulze Cafeteria from 11-1 p.m. on Nov. 15. The event allowed students, faculty and staff to engage in conversations with others with whom they may not normally interact.

The purpose of the event was to give those involved a chance to connect with and learn about people from other cultures in a relaxed atmosphere outside of the classroom, according to coordinator Pamela Higgins Saulsberry. Since 56 countries are represented at ULM, it allowed students to share experiences from around the world.

“This is what college is all about,” said Saulsberry, “An opportunity to interact with an individual who has had different life experiences than you and to appreciate the differences as opposed to finding conflict…you may find out you have more in common with them than you have not in common.”

Participants were given a paper once arriving which encouraged them to locate and interact with people from six different countries.

They were asked to write down the name of the person and his or her country and then have a conversation reflecting on things they share with that person.

Students, both domestic and foreign, were encouraged to give a short presentation describing their thoughts on interacting with other cultures and their own personal experiences with diversity.

“I think [diversity] is great,” said Cody Pace, a freshman computer science major from Haile. “There is alot of ignorance about diversity… we should come out of our comfort zones and realize that America is becoming more diverse everyday.”

“There is diversity in everything,” said Prabin Panta, a freshman accounting major from Nepal. “It is better to have different types of people than just one…the world is globalizing”