International Students Share Their Traditions in Holidays Celebration

Middlesex Community College student Titi Hoang, who came to Middletown from Vietnam in 1999, shared with other students at the college how she celebrates Tet Nguyen Dan. Tet, as it is often called, is the Vietnamese lunar New Year. Hoang holds onto many of her country's traditions but loves the freedom that being in the United States brings. Hoang said she came to the United States because her husband lived here and she wanted to be with him.

Pattraporn Likhitlerdrat, who also lives in Middletown and had a display at the festival, came from Thailand almost three years ago. She graduated from Middlesex Community College (MxCC) last June but is still taking classes. "I would like to find a career I love and have a happy stable life. Living here and attending MxCC will help me reach these dreams," Likhitlerdrat said.

Hoang and Likhitlerdrat's exhibits were part of the annual International Holidays Celebration at Middlesex Community College. The College's President's Committee on Diversity (PCOD) sponsored this event, bringing together MxCC students from around the globe to share, through displays and food, the different ways they celebrate the holiday season. This program is part of the college's PCOD continuing efforts to build awareness and community networking that relates to the support of a multicultural perspective by involving MxCC students, staff and the public in ongoing discussions on intercultural relations and attitudes.

Some of the countries represented at the event were Vietnam, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia, Kenya, Nigeria and Brazil. The students celebrate many different holidays including Three Kings Day, Chanukah, Tet Nguyen Dan (the Vietnamese New Year), Ramadan, and Christmas.

Caption reads: Middlesex Community College students, Titi Hoang and Pattraporn Likhitlerdrat of Middletown, stand in front of a display showing the holiday traditions of their native countries, Vietnam and Thailand at the College’s recent International Holidays Celebration.