Kearney International Center launches Lunch Club
The Kearney International Center (KIC) launched a Lunch Club to help students socialize, make connections and, of course, grab some tasty grub.
The club will meet 12:30-2 p.m. Thursdays from 12:30-2:00 p.m. in the International Student Association Office in Centennial Student Union room 256.
Tinbit Assefa, one of the members of Maverick Global Ambassadors (MGA) in charge of running the Lunch Club, said the idea came after a discussion about ways to bring students together.
“Me and Rohit, with help of Alissa Morson, were discussing a couple of ideas, and then we came up with this,” Assefa said. “We thought it is a great way for students to socialize. And there is also the ISA Cafe happening sometimes, so we might as well do the Lunch Club as a substitute on Thursdays. Since we both were working at that time.”
Every student on campus is welcomed into the club, which has no specific restrictions to participate. According to Assefa, anyone who wants to find friends and socialize more may join.
“ISA Cafe is usually serving a couple of snacks like pastries with coffee and tea,” Assefa said. “But then with the Lunch Club, it’s mostly noodles and, I would say, a little bit heavier lunch, rather than like cafe style.”.
Discussion and activity topics will change for every meeting. MGA members running the club are planning to bring different games and create special themes for each meeting.
“So eventually, we were planning on bringing in a couple of games or we also thought of a small competition or even a topic that students will talk about while having their lunch here. In the past three weeks that we had meetings, we have not had a topic. Groups of friends would just come in and so they already know a couple of people there to spend time with. So it’s been going like that, but, for the future, we’ll have some nice ideas,” said Assefa.
MGA members hope that the Lunch Club will become a place for students to have some rest in between classes as well as find new friends and discuss different topics over lunch.
“We hope that in the long term, the Lunch Club will create a closer community for international students and everyone else as well. Whoever attends it could just gain a better social life and also a better networking system. And mainly it is about entertainment. Just have students here and kind of relax in between classes,” Assefa said.
Every student is invited by MGA members to attend the club meetings whenever they are free. To learn more about the topic of this week’s event, email tinbit.assefa@mnsu.edu or wait for an announcement in the KIC Instagram profile.
Header photo: Students discuss a variety of topics over lunch options through weekly lunch clubs hosted by the Kearney International Center. (Dylan Engel/The Reporter)
Write to Amalia Sharaf at amal.sharafkhodjaeva@en2503tm