An 85-degree day on The Yard welcomed a vibrant multicultural festival featuring several student organizations during this year’s Springfest, on Apr. 14.
A partnership between the Howard University Undergraduate Student Assembly, The Office of Intercultural Affairs and LGBTQ+ Resource Center and !Changó! — Howard University’s Afro Latine Student Association and Spanish Speaking Society, this event brought together cultural student organizations on campus as part of the 2026 “Circa 1867” Springfest Week.
AJ King, the director of The Office of Intercultural Affairs and LGBTQ+ Resource Center, provided opening remarks for the event. This is the second year the office partnered with the multicultural festival, which was hosted solely by !Changó! in previous years.
“The purpose of the multicultural festival is to celebrate our diverse power and diverse community,” he said. “This is our second annual multicultural festival and we are planning on doing this for years to come.”
Several student organizations had tables on The Yard, including the Caribbean Student Association, African Student Association (ASA), Haitian Student Association, Ethiopian Eritrean Students Association, Howard University iPals and more. They shared cultural snacks, games and information about their countries.
There was also a table where international students could receive free tax codes to assist them in filing their taxes. The event also included free treats from Here’s The Scoop, a Black-owned ice cream shop located on Georgia Ave. Jerk at Nite, an award-winning Jamaican food truck founded by a Howard University graduate, was also present.
Demon Knowles, a junior marketing major from Howard County, Maryland, was walking across the yard when he decided to stop by and see what was going on. He believes an event like this is important to reflect the rich cultural makeup of Howard.
“Howard itself is a diverse campus,” he said. “I believe that different cultures need to be celebrated. I think it’s important for everybody.”
There were also several dance teams, both within and outside of Howard, who took the stage at the multicultural festival. Howard University’s Tropical Riddimz dance team, Omoge dance team and Rumba Del Valle dance team each took turns performing. An off-campus Afro-Brazilian nonprofit dance team called Estrela Preta Capoeira also performed.
Ilyana Spencer, a sophomore sports medicine major from Brooklyn, New York, and member of !Changó! says Springfest Week was the perfect time to host this event.
“Everybody’s outside and wants to be on The Yard. I think having this as an event at Springfest really solidifies its purpose,” she said.
This year, members of the Howard University Senate advocated for the multicultural festival to be an annual occurrence. Senator Taino Moreno and !Changó! President Amerie Jackson authored “The Multicultural Festival Act” to solidify this. The act included language aimed at legislating the official cultivation of the Multicultural Festival and its yearly occurrence to ensure that all cultures at Howard are adequately recognized and represented.
Nashi Moma, a senior biology major and chemistry minor from West Bloomfield, Michigan, by way of Menda, Cameroon, serves as the president of the ASA this year. Moma reflected on previous years of the multicultural festival, where the event was much smaller, and is grateful that it is now hosted on The Yard.
“I like that we got it on a larger scale,” she said “My freshman year it was in Douglass and then last year it was in Blackburn ballroom so being on The Yard this year is very cool.”
As president of ASA, Moma believes the multicultural festival is a great way to bring Howard students together while amplifying their cultural backgrounds.
“Its good for us to recognize and appreciate all Black people in the diaspora,” she said.
Copy edited by D’Nyah Jefferson – Philmore