Students brought together to celebrate diversity thanks to successful day trip to Largs

A trip to Largs was combined with the appreciation of different cultures thanks to an outing planned by the Caledonian Model UN Society and the Ethnic Diversity Student Officer.

To help celebrate the diversity of students at GCU, students from the Caledonian Model UN Society teamed up with the GCU Students’ Association Ethnic Diversity Officer to organise a trip to the coastal town of Largs, as a way of bringing different cultures together.

Society member and Ethnic Diversity Officer Zain Ul Abidin Qureshi decided to create an opportunity for students to learn about different cultures and celebrate diversity by organising a trip to Largs. During the trip, students from different countries showcased their cultures through examples of dance, art and sport.

The Caledonian Model UN Society (CaledoMUN) gives students the opportunity to simulate the workings of the United Nations by acting as a country representative. Each week, the students take part in a debate around various topics and have to use their critical discussion skills to represent the stance of a country that they don’t personally belong to.

The society’s activity allows students to understand and appreciate the differences between countries, whilst helping them develop their critical thinking, cultural awareness and debate skills.

Using his connections from his new Ethnic Diversity Officer role, Zain decided to bring students together on a trip where they could learn about each other’s cultures. He explained: “We had the idea to organize a trip to Largs because we’re already quite a diverse group of people, and I recently became the GCU Ethnic and Diversity Officer with the Students’ Association.

I realised that we have a society of students from across various countries and I have a role to play, so we decided to combine the two. I asked the society if a trip to Largs would be something that they would be interested in and they said yes, so we decided to start advertising it.”

Before the outing took place, Zain asked some students to give a short presentation about their cultures as well as their appreciation of their similarities and differences. Zain said: “The aim of my role is to help GCU promote different cultures and ideals, so I wanted to make a point of doing something to support this during the trip.

I asked a member who was from Nigeria if he would do a presentation about Nigeria before the trip, talking about the culture and how it differs from Scotland. He discussed the similarities and the culture shocks he had when he first arrived, which would be relatable to a lot of international students.

I also asked an Indonesian student to do a presentation, and he decided to do a recitation of the Quran. As well as this, I asked a friend of mine who is an artist and who has a great interest in combining art with different cultures, to speak about her work. During the trip, we also had some students do some traditional dancing and played cricket, so everyone had the opportunity to learn about different cultures in one way or another.”

He added: “We started off the trip at the GCU Students’ Association building with the presentations and from there we made our way to Glasgow Central Station for the train to Largs. Once we arrived, we went hiking to a great viewpoint of Largs.

While we were there, the students did their different dances and then we walked to the beach to play cricket, eat ice cream and some more dancing! From 3pm, I suggested to everyone that they could go home if they wished but a lot of people ended up staying until 7pm. The plan was really to head to the beach and grab some ice cream, but we ended up getting the ferry and travelling across the water, so it was a busy day.”

For some, this was the first opportunity that students had the chance to travel outside of Glasgow and as a result has encouraged them to explore more of Scotland. After the successful outing, Zain discussed plans for future day trips. He said: “We have some ideas for some future outings, but we’re currently waiting on some funding to help us do that. We charged £15 for the Largs trip, but we ideally want to keep costs low so we can encourage more people to come along.

This trip has allowed people to think about where else they’d like to visit as part of a day trip, which is exciting. For some students, this was their first opportunity getting to travel outside of Glasgow so it was a great trip for them. For one student, they are about to leave Glasgow so it reminded them of how much they will miss living here. So many people from different cultures came on the trip and that was the exact aim, to let people learn about new cultures.”

Find out about the CaledoMUN Society on their Instagram page

By Rachael McAlonan

Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media here