Binghamton University celebrated its diverse cultures with some friendly international competition and performances at the International Fest.

More than 200 students came out to the New University Union to celebrate the global-themed festival on Sunday afternoon.

The event was hosted by Daniel Adeyanju, the Student Association vice president for multicultural affairs, and International Connections, a club that educates BU students about different cultures and lifestyles.

According to Adeyanju, International Fest was held to raise multicultural awareness at Binghamton University.

“We held this event with the purpose of bringing the campus together showcasing cultures in a large fair format event,” said Adeyanju, a senior majoring in biology. “Sometimes international students may feel left out, and I wanted to make them feel welcome and feel that their cultures are celebrated.”

The performers, which included Kasa Moda, a Korean dance group; Sulpoong, a Korean percussion group; the Pegs, an all-female acapella group; Quimbamba, a Latin dance group; and the Irish Student Union dancers, were judged in competition for a $300 prize.

Student clubs that tabled also competed to win a $200 prize, and attendees voted upon the winning table.

The winning table was the Philippine American League table, who did a traditional bamboo dance in celebration of their prize, and Sulpoong won the performance section.

Students in attendance could get pita and hummus from Hillel, Sno Cones from the French Student Association, sunglasses from the Student Association and tea and biscuits from Indian Graduate Student Organization, among other giveaways. There were also contests, including a watermelon-eating contest hosted by the LASU.

One fraternity demonstrated several kinds of martial arts styles.

“We’re showing off martial arts of different cultures,” said Jeremy Poserio, a junior majoring in biochemistry and brother of the Pi Delta Psi fraternity. “We are exposing the culture of our backgrounds.”

Nathan Shapiro, the vice president of finance for Hillel and a graduate student studying accounting, was impressed with the size and scope of the event.

“We’re tabling to promote more awareness for our student group and this is a great way to do that,” he said.

Israel Silva, fundraiser for the LASU and a freshman majoring in economics, said she liked seeing all the organizations coming together for one day.

Many students seemed to enjoy the eclectic mixture of food from many different cultures, including Greek, Korean and Japanese food.

“If you look at the stats, we have a very multicultural campus,” Poserio said, “and this is one of those events that brings us together and lets us experience different people’s cultures.”