{"id":8940,"date":"2025-12-04T05:37:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/?p=8940"},"modified":"2025-12-04T05:39:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:39:41","slug":"ptks-culture-night-connecting-cultures-at-acc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/ptks-culture-night-connecting-cultures-at-acc\/","title":{"rendered":"PTK’s Culture Night: Connecting Cultures at ACC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Phoebe Taber<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 23rd, the Alpha Gamma Pi Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa hosted Culture Night at the Highland campus. The event began with a PTK meeting featuring committee updates, including the celebration of successful volunteering at Formula One, updates about volunteer opportunities for UT events, and details about an upcoming food drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Asmaa Kajjaj, Treasurer of PTK and President of Active Minds, spoke about the tradition of Culture Night. \u201cIt\u2019s kinda been a staple of PTK for a few years, it was put on pause during COVID but we revamped it and I brought it back,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve been in charge of doing it for two and a half years and every single year I try to improve on it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the conclusion of the PTK meeting, students received a \u201cboarding pass\u201d for Culture Night. The ticket listed the attending organizations offering hands-on experiences, global cuisine, and opportunities to interact with various communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Geology Club displayed rock samples, maps, different informational materials, and engaged in lively discussions about geology with students. Some organizations offered free materials for students to take home. The Honors Student Organization (HSO) provided tissue paper to make Mexican folk art such as papel picado and paper flowers. Active Minds, an organization focused on promoting mental well-being and mental health resources, offered free stickers, fidget toys, candy, and bracelets. Culture Night also included henna, bingo cards, and international cuisine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last semester marked the first Culture Night that included student organizations. Kajjaj commented, \u201cI started bringing in student organizations because I think it\u2019s fun to represent your own culture and also just get people excited to learn and talk to each other. It\u2019s a lowkey event, it\u2019s super fun, you get free food, get to learn about cultures and it\u2019s just a vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Association of Young Leaders was one of the most popular tables. The association hosted Loter\u00eda, a Mexican board game similar to bingo that uses a deck of cards instead of numbers. They played several rounds, with each winner rewarded with a concha, a Mexican sweet bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the center of the event was a table covered in the Moroccan flag, laid with countless cultural items. Moroccan pottery, food, metalwork, shoes, and even perfume were available for students to engage with and learn from.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the tone of the night was incredibly welcoming. Central Vice President Carter Ibrahim expressed, \u201cI love this meeting of PTK, Asmaa hosts it every summer and it\u2019s just so much fun getting to learn about everyone\u2019s cultures. Especially their food \u2018cause I\u2019m a hungry guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PTK members were also excited for the event, such as Isaiah Uzochukwu who affirmed, \u201cso many familiar faces, so many different faces, love the turn out tonight. I represent the Nigerian culture and I can\u2019t wait to say how grateful I am to be around here. Thank you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Oct. 23rd, the Alpha Gamma Pi Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) hosted its annual Culture Night at ACC Highland, bringing together diverse student organizations for an evening of global cuisine, hands-on activities, and cultural exchange. From Mexican folk art and Moroccan crafts to interactive games and mental health awareness, the event provided a welcoming space for students to learn, connect, and celebrate cultures from around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4103,"featured_media":8947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[758,12,1134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-news","category-student-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/accent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}