A new student-organized Sesquicentennial anthology, aimed at representing the cultural accomplishments and backgrounds of the University community during the past 150 years, will soon be launched online.
Project organizers, led by senior SiSi Marti, are looking to the University community for contributions for a Web site to be launched in April.
“Our goal is to expose the University community to the different cultural experiences and opinions that WUSTL students, alumni, faculty and staff have or have had,” Marti said. “We are looking for all types of entries, from all media types.
“These could range from a family story passed down through the generations, an essay about culture, a video of an ethnic dance or your grandma’s secret recipe for your family’s traditional meal.”
The group is searching for a variety of ideas that will represent all the people that have been associated with the University in the past 150 years. To represent the Sesquicentennial, the group will publish only 150 entries.
A submission can be in any medium that can be put on a Web site. The only criterion is that the entry must have something to do with cultural heritage, and that can be any culture.
When Marti was first approached by the Association of Latin American Students to head its Sesquicentennial project, she first considered a printed book filled with different Latino/Hispanic items, including stories, poems, pictures and recipes.
After careful consideration, she realized it would be exciting to include other cultures as well.
“I also realized the importance of the Internet and how nice it is to be able to access information anywhere in the world,” Marti said. “Since I was in the midst of putting together the proposal for the project, I decided to change the idea into a Web site instead of a book.
“Doing the project this way will allow us to learn more about different cultures and reach a larger audience in the long run.”
Marti and her team — students Fredric Mitchell, M. Angel Flores and Veronica Thomann — will publish the Web site (www.artsci.wustl.edu/~wu150) during Multicultural Celebrations Weekend in April.
The deadline for submissions is Feb. 29, though it may be extended. Prizes will be awarded for the entries determined to be among the top three.
Questions and project submissions should be e-mailed to wu150culture@yahoo.com.
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