Now is the time to add a little spice to your life

Marshall University's Center for African American Students' Programs hosted Soulful Sunday this week. The event served as a way for family, friends, faculty and students to get together and enjoy a feast and watch a performance by the African American Arts and Heritage Academy Showcase.

Both the food and show were rich in African-American culture, and being around a setting like that can enrich the people who are a part of it. The conversations are punctuated with learning and experiencing something totally different and new.

We can get more out of life when we step out of the norm and add a little bit of flavor to our every day conversations and activities. This is what college is about. Every semester, there is a conglomerate of activities to learn and do about any topic you could think of. The events are for us to grow and become more rounded and intellectual people outside the classroom. College is an environment where something is happening almost all the time for us to get involved in and become enriched from. We need to take advantage of that.

The Center for African American Students' Programs hosts a number of activities each semester. These occasions gather many diverse people together to get something new out of their day and hopefully become better because of it.

Upcoming events include the annual diversity breakfast with motivational speaker Howard G. Adams on Feb. 19 and the African American History Bowl on Feb. 23.

The Center for International Programs also brings in hundreds of students from many countries around the world each year to Marshall. One of the reasons for having this program is so people from different ethnic backgrounds, origins and beliefs can intermingle and learn from each other. We can gain so much insight and knowledge by interacting with people who are different from us. It not only enlightens us now, but it also helps us in the future. We are living in a global society where everything is connected. Companies are going to have employees coming from all walks of life and customers are going to be that way, too.

If you've already become familiar with talking and being around diverse people in college, then you should have an easier time getting along with your fellow co-workers or customers on the job. The more open we are to learning and being around new people and ideas, the more successful we are going to be.

So check out the diversity events coming up this semester and open yourself up to endless possibilities.