WKU News

Seven WKU students and two staff members traveled to Louisville on March 2 for the 2024 Multicultural Retreat, sponsored by the Student Activities office.

Students started the day by taking a historical tour of West Louisville in the Portland, Shawnee, Parkland and Chickasaw neighborhoods. Highlights included visiting Muhammad Ali’s Home Site and learning about the Louisville flood of 1937.

The afternoon involved community service with Hand in Hand Ministries where students cleaned up a community garden in the Portland neighborhood and began landscaping for the spring.

“I learned that Hand in Hand Ministries helps a lot of communities,” sophomore Camryn Douglas of Nashville, Tennessee, said. “At the park we cleaned up, kids in the neighborhood will hopefully be able to sit and have lunch and enjoy the space. I also appreciated the story that Hand in Hand Ministries staff told of how they saved a woman’s house because the state was going to deem it unlivable and kick her out of her home. It was pretty neat that they (Hand in Hand Ministries) are working to build up their community, but it’s also sad that there is not as much help from their government to protect their housing.”

Amelia Kolb, Assistant Director of Leadership & Volunteerism in the Student Activities office, said: “I was so glad to share this part of Louisville with WKU students. As a Louisville native, I learned more about my own city and appreciated the opportunity that several of the students had to learn and volunteer. We had students attending who were from Louisville, but also international students who attended from Ukraine, Taiwan, Kurdistan and England. The interactions that our students had and experienced on this trip is what this retreat should be about. I hope to continue this program in the years to come.”

Other participants were students Yathavan Srimuraletharan of London, England; Taisiia Maslenko of Kyiv, Ukraine; Aidai Kubanychbekova from Kurdistan; Dylan Wilson of Louisville; Tsaichen Chung from Taiwan; Keyonna Whaley of Louisville; and staff member Taryn Calloway.

Contact: Amelia Kolb, (270) 745-2459