The Binghamton University Association for Mixed Students spent the past week focusing on the merging cultures and increasing appreciation for the multi-ethnic heritage during their cultural week.

The organization centers on the mixed race and aims at addressing the needs of students with diverse backgrounds. Each day of their cultural week was devoted to an activity that will educate others on the mixed-race experience.

According to Jackie Manoharan, publicity chair for BAMS, the goal is to promote intercultural awareness.

“Even if you’re not mixed, we try to enlighten you on what it’s like to be mixed,” said Manoharan, a sophomore double-majoring in math and art.

Monday’s event, which was called “What it’s like to be Mixed in America,” was a first for the organization. A panel of seven students discussed their experiences as biracial people living in the United States.

Tuesday’s event, known as Cultural Recess, explored different childhood games from all throughout the world. Some of the games included Chinese jump rope, dominoes and playing cards.

The activities for the rest of the week involve a forum on being “too mixed” and the stereotypes that follow, open mic poetry and a General Body Appreciation party.

This week has been a big week for other cultural groups as well. Asian Student Union and its sub-groups are also coming to the tail end of Asian Empowerment Week.

The week has included cultural nights organized by the Chinese American Student Union, the Binghamton University Japanese Association and the Vietnamese Student Association. The Korean American Student Association is set to host Korean Night at 8 p.m. tonight at Vestal High School, and ASU will host a game night tomorrow in room 252 of the Old University Union.

VSA President Helen Wu said she was fine with the fact that the ASU and BAMS events were scheduled for the same week.

“We planned very early on in the semester so we didn’t know what other events were happening,” said Wu, who also performed in a Vietnamese fan and hat dance Thursday.

BAMS President Fenix Suero said she wasn’t sure how to feel about the matter.

“I honestly don’t know that it’s [ASU] week,” Suero said. “We also target different audience groups, so I don’t see an issue with it.”

Other members of BAMS’ Executive Board expressed a stronger regard to the situation. Manoharan said she felt bad because there wasn’t any form of communication between the groups.

“There are a lot of things going on this week that we didn’t even know about until [recently],” Manoharan said.

Deciding on a cultural week lies solely in the hands of the student organization holding the week. According to Ed Mays, Student Association vice president for multicultural affairs, the student group decides on when its cultural week will be and handles the booking involved.

“We don’t decide at all. It’s up to them,” he said.

Mays said it is the responsibility of the cultural organizations to decide among each other which group gets which week. However, even with communication and prior planning, multiple groups having their main events during the same week is inevitable.

“It’s going to happen where they have it in the same week. Groups are going to overlap,” Mays said.