Kiran Pandey
Staff Writer
Nepal is home to Mt. Everest, the birthplace of Lord Buddha and almost 150 ISU students. To showcase their diverse culture to other students, members of the Nepalese Student Association hold an annual Nepalese Night, which will take place this year on Feb. 17 in the PSUB Ballroom.
The event will start at 6 p.m. and feature an introductory video presentation to kick off the night.
“The video presentation will help our guests to be familiar with our culture,” said Kaushal Raj Ghimire, vice president of the Nepalese Student Association. “It will be easier for them to understand our other cultural performances in the event.”
Nepalese Night will feature more than seven cultural performances, including a fashion show and a wedding reenactment.
“People are really excited about the event,” said Ganesh Sapkota, the treasurer of the association and a junior in business informatics. “We’re expecting at least 600 guests.”
The event fully relies upon its members for ticket selling, event setup, decoration and cooking food.
“The members have been eagerly showing up and a lot of volunteers have filled the Google sheet to help in organizing the event thoroughly,” said Sajn Bajracharya, the advisor of the Nepalese Student Association.
The performers have been practicing, club members said, and people from Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Boise and California have also shown their interest in attending.
The majority of funding and planning has taken place within the organization, but different departments on campus also helped to organize the event. ISU Credit Union, the College of Business and ASISU all sponsor Nepalese Night, and the International Students Association will help conduct the event.
In addition to the annual event, the Nepalese Student Association organizes many sporting events throughout the year.
“We have been actively involved in spreading our unique culture and letting the local people know about Nepal through various sports activities,” Ghimire said. “The association organized more than 11 different events during the fall semester, which included boys and girls football, volleyball, basketball and many others.”
Tickets are $8 for students, $9 for faculty and staff and $10 for the public or at the door. Tickets can be purchased Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the PSUB or in Rendezvous at the Nepalese Night table or online through the link on the Nepalese Students Association (NSA) of ISU Facebook page.
“The board members of the Nepalese Student Association have been working hard the last few weeks to make the event successful,” Bajracharya said. “We hope the three hours on February 17 will take every guest to Nepal and make them familiar with our culture.”
