Twelve students, each representing a different country, came together on Nov. 18 to share their culture and talents and vie for the title of 2016 Mr. KSU International.
The International Student Association hosts “Mr. KSU International” every year.
“I was a student my first time doing this, which was my sophomore year,” said Martavius Thompson, ISA adviser and Kennesaw State alumnus. “So 2011 I would say was the first year we did it officially.”
The event was split into three categories: a cultural portion, a talent portion and a formal question-and-answer portion for the top five contestants. During the cultural portion, contestants shared facts and what they love most about their countries.
While some of the cultural portions were comical, other contestants stayed serious with the descriptions of their countries.
Isaiah Riobe represented the United States and chose to remind the audience that, despite current events, citizens need to unify and remember what is great about America. He urged members of the audience to join hands across the university student rooms.
Contestants’ talents varied from singing to playing the violin, from dancing to stand-up comedy. Some even showed off their creative side with pieces of art and film that they’ve made.
The Q&A portion allowed the panel of seven judges to pose their questions to the five finalists. These answers allowed each contestant to share what they imagine for the future as well as their own personal aspirations.
The contestant from Colombia, Sebastian Buitrago Mendez, won crowd favorite, while Mr. United States and Mr. Vietnam, represented by Phivan Nguyen, shared the honor of this year’s Mr. Congeniality award.
At the end of the night Chigozie Obanna, who represented Nigeria, won the title of the 2016 Mr. KSU International. Obanna is a computer engineering technology major with a minor in renewable energy engineering technology.
Obanna explained during his Q&A portion that, in a world constantly changing with more people from different walks of life discovering new ways of connecting to one another, it is important to hold discussions about all worlds coming together as one.
“There was a lot of time and dedication from the guys and the board members,” said Harshini Desai, the publicity coordinator for ISA. “The guys had to take the time out of their schedules and come and do this, so time was very important.”
After the announcement of the winners, family and friends gathered to congratulate them.
“It was good,” said Matthew Watson, a junior biochemistry major and ISA member. “I think we expected more people but it is the beginning of fall break. We definitely didn’t have the turn out we expected.”
Mr. KSU International and other events held by the ISA serve as a platform to help unite students from different cultural backgrounds.
