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The East Central College (Union, MO) International Festival is a tradition that began in 1998, thanks largely to the efforts of a visionary international student named Ismil Sahman. "Lzzy," as he was affectionately nicknamed, founded ECC's Multicultural Association, a student group made up of international students as well as local students.
 
The stated mission of the Multicultural Association was (and still is) as follows: "Our Objectives are to learn about different cultures and to form friendships with people throughout the world." The Multicultural Association conceived of an International Festival which would be both fund and educational, a day that would appeal to people of all ages, and most importantly, a day that would celebrate culture and diversity and thus bring all people closer together. The first in International Festival back in '98 was a smashing success and every year since the festival has grown in scale and popularity. This time, it was not only a campus-wide effort, but also a community-wide effort.
 
The Chinese American Community generously responded to the invitation from Dr. Jennifer Lim, a piano professor teaching at ECC. Leading the effort was the President of Organization of Chinese Americans, St. Louis Chapter, Matthew Yu. "It is paramount that we aggressively pursue every opportunity to manifest our culture into the mainstream America", said Matthew Yu. Assisting Matthew Yu was Jason Tang, Executive Vice President of OCA, St. Louis. He & Jimmy Liu helped man the booth where they wrote more than 500 English names in Chinese Characters.
 
(from
left to right) Matthew Yu, Jason Tang and Jimmy Liu
Matthew Yu was particularly grateful for the support he received from the Chinese community, of which St. Louis Chinese Language School, St. Louis Chinese Language Academy, and St. Louis Modern Chinese School contributed a hour long program. Matthew asked this reporter to thank everybody who volunteered time on Saturday and traveled more than 40 minutes each way to this event. "This demonstrated high degree of cooperation and sacrificial spirit of our community toward building a stronger America", said Matthew. According to Dr. Jennifer Lim, this year's event was the best attended in all the years. Over 2000 people from the school and adjacent counties attended this event.
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