International flag raising renews focus on students

flag raising medium

Students from Spain raise their country's flag at the Joyce and Harvey White
International Plaza on the Northwest campus. The international ceremony has
become one of the premier events associated with the University's annual
Homecoming celebration.

A colorful Northwest tradition will mark its 10th anniversary at 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, when the University's Intercultural and International Center hosts the 2007 flag-raising ceremony at the Joyce and Harvey White International Plaza.

This year's event is being held in conjunction with Walkout Day, an expanded version of another longstanding University ritual, which will comprise activities scheduled between noon and 4 p.m. on the Colden Pond lawn adjoining the plaza.

Walkout Day entered Northwest lore in 1915, when it began as a sort of good-natured student strike. Always observed on the Friday before Homecoming, no classes are held, and the day is traditionally given over to float-making and other parade preparations.

The revamped Walkout Day event is being co-sponsored by IIC, the Student Activities Council and the Residence Hall Association. Afternoon activities will include a free student barbecue, inflatable games and door prizes, with the flag ceremony serving as a centerpiece event.

This year's flag raising is titled "Celebrating a Decade of Northwest as an International Family." That motif that will carry through the entire weekend of Homecoming 2007, which is themed "Around the World."

"IIC is proud to partner with RHA and SAC in presenting an expanded and improved Walkout Day celebration," said Jeffrey Foot, director of international affairs for the University. "Together we are planning an afternoon that will add meaning to the event and attract students that might not otherwise participate.

"Our goal is to transform the flag raising into a student-focused experience, but, as always, we invite the public and the entire Northwest community to take part in what is always a very moving event."

Each year the international flag raising ceremony serves to renew the University's commitment to global peace and multi-cultural education. During the ceremony, members of Northwest's international community individually raise their country's flag in accordance with United Nations protocol.

Bordering Colden Pond on the south side of campus, the Joyce and Harvey White International Plaza is a broad walkway lined with more than 50 flags, a large majority of which represent the home countries of Northwest students and recent alumni. Other national banners stand for countries in which students have expressed a special interest.

More than 200 students from nations other than the United States currently attend the University.

The plaza was made possible through the generosity of Joyce and Harvey White, a couple with longstanding ties to Northwest. Harvey White attended Northwest after graduating from Horace Mann High School, and Joyce White graduated from the University with a degree in business in 1951.

Along with other friends of the University, the Whites established the plaza as both a gateway to the heart of campus and a reminder to students to embrace cultural, national and political differences.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone (660) 562-1704
Fax (660) 562-1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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