The Cultural Night of INCAE, held at the Walter Kissling Gam Campus, was filled with emotions, delicious dishes and typical drinks, presentations full of joy and color, all in a pleasant atmosphere, where the participants showed their roots with enthusiasm to the spectators, since this is an activity that seeks to share the culture of the countries represented by the students of the master's programs.
This evening was organized by the Student Life area with the support of the Art & Culture Club, whose president is Costa Rican student Benjamín Naranjo Valverde. Students Andrés Felipe Cabrera Ochoa, from Ecuador, and Jennifer Margarita Herrera Acevedo, from Nicaragua, were the masters of ceremonies during the presentations.
Enrique Bolaños, rector of INCAE, was in charge of the welcoming remarks, who emphasized: "Today we are celebrating what we call Cultural Night at INCAE , which is a window to the culture and art of the countries to which our students belong, represented through dances, songs, painting, and gastronomy. Inaddition, this night we have the participation not only of the students of the Residential Masters, but, fostering this spirit of union and networking, for the first time the Executive MBA students are also participating, in a tradition that we hope to start here."
As is tradition, the celebration began with cultural presentations at the Luis Poma Forum, where students, faculty members, diplomatic corps and special guests were able to share and enjoy the artistic acts performed by the students themselves, such as poetry, theater, masquerades, dances and typical songs from Ecuador, Panama, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru, Guatemala and Costa Rica.
Once the show was over, the guests moved to the "Plaza Banderas", to enjoy the famous "Around the World", where the students were grouped in stands by countries, offering culinary delights and traditional drinks, which were tasted by those present. The countries represented were: Ecuador, Panama, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Netherlands, Colombia and Belize participated together.
From these groups, a top three winners were selected by a jury composed of representatives of our institution and the embassies present. Enrique Bolaños, Rector of INCAE, Erika Bernal, Director of Administration and Finance, Bernard Kilian, Dean of Master's Degrees, and Claudia Quintanilla and Guiselle Hernandez from Student Life, participated on behalf of INCAE .
On behalf of the embassies, we had the participation of the Ambassador of Peru Juan Jimenez Mayor, the Ambassador of Panama Luis Carlos Cabezas Moreno, who was accompanied by the cultural attachés Patricia Abrahams and Sared Cecilia Alvarez Suarez Suarez and Mario Batista.
Also participating were the Minister Counselor of Honduras Eduardo Enrique Urbina Ayala; the Ambassador of Guatemala Sandra Noriega de Kugler, who was accompanied by the First Secretary and Consul Luis Molina Carmona and the Third Secretary Ricardo Enríquez Enríquez. Lenne Smeets was the representative of the Embassy of the Netherlands.
Also in attendance were Ambassador Oscar Armando Toledo Soriano of El Salvador and Minister Counselor Nelson Arévalo. Also in attendance were Ambassador Bolivar Vicente Torres Cevallos of Ecuador and First Secretary Ana Victoria Rosero; and from the Embassy of Bolivia, Minister Counselor Jaime Mauricio Quiroga Carvajal and Karina Díaz.
Peru was the winning country, now in its third consecutive year, followed by Guatemala and Ecuador. They were chosen based on standards of consistency in theme, originality and representation of their country, both in the show and at the stand.
As an anecdote, we have reference that these celebrations among our students, of sharing their cultures and traditions, began at the Francisco de Sola Campus in Nicaragua, and by 1976, with the MAE VIII and IX Programs, the Pan-American Program, of which the Cultural Night is a part, began to be celebrated.
We thank the support of the Embassies of the countries represented, for making this event reflect what their culture offers to the world, in addition, Flor de Caña and Danza Peruana INKARI, for supporting their countries with their drinks and dances, to give more shine to the event.
