Campbellsville experiences diversity in action

By Holly Jo Evans, student news writer, Office of University Communications

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Ariunaa and Kyrea Detherage show off their face paint done by Linda Milbey at the fair. (CU Photo by Whitley Howlett)

CAMPBELLSVILLE, KY (02/04/2019) (readMedia)-- Campbellsville University students took part in the Greater Campbellsville United Diversity Festival on Jan. 26 at the Taylor County Extension Office.

Since 2003, Greater Campbellsville United has hosted a diversity festival each year in order to showcase diversity within the community. This year they partnered with the extension office to host their 16 annual Diversity Festival with the theme of "Diversity in Action."

Campbellsville University students were present and cooked their favorite foods for everyone to enjoy.

In the festival, different booths were set up with face painting, crafts, games and foods from different countries.

Wanda Washington, executive director of Greater Campbellsville United, said, "The festival features music, food, dance, crafts and baking and brings the community together in a similar setting."

This year, around 200 people from the community came together to celebrate the differences in culture. According to Washington, this is the average attendance amount for any given year.

Each festival features something different to make it unique. For this year's festival, the University of Kentucky fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha were present as the honored guests. The team performed a dance and Yolantha Pace, the guest speaker, spoke about what it is like being diverse all over the world.

Different booths had crafts for children to do, including painting flowers with celery and an art game where the children would switch in the middle of their drawing and add to each other's art. There was also a booth to paint ceramics.

In order for children to experience different cultures from around the world, there was a room where stories were being told. Henna paintings were also being done during the festival.

Prizes were given out throughout the day. Each year the festival is free to the public and Washington said, "We want to think our contributors" for supporting the festival.

Campbellsville University is a widely-acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 13,000 students offering more than 90 programs of study including Ph.D., master, baccalaureate, associate, pre-professional and certification programs. The university has off-campus centers in Kentucky cities Louisville, Harrodsburg, Somerset, Hodgenville and Liberty with Kentucky instructional sites in Elizabethtown, Owensboro and Summersville. The university also has a full complement of online programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu