Bringing students together, sharing a sense of pride – organising ICF, the intercultural festival

Prathiba, IMM student, talks about her experience organising ICF 2017

Prathiba Koorapati Lakshmipathy, IMM 19, arrived at Audencia last September and in the first few weeks attended an information session about ICF, Audencia’s annual intercultural festival organised by students. “At first I just wanted to volunteer to do some dancing” she says, ”but very soon I got involved in planning the event itself and ended up organising the event". The biggest challenge was convincing fellow students to work for the event. “As I am new to Audencia and its culture, it was difficult for me to reach out people" Prathiba says. "I was lucky to have the support of the school", she continues. Prathiba stresses that the success of the event is not hers alone and give a special mention to fellow student Arjun Carmelino. 

When the big day came Prathiba was quite relaxed and even had time to enjoy herself.  She spent time going round the stands and talking to participants. For Prathiba, the highlight was definitely the salsa dancing. “Seeing students from so many different nationalities all dancing together felt really good – a great achievement”.

Prathiba hopes to come to ICF again next year, just before she graduates. “For the 2018 edition, I would love to see more acts and more involvement from French students” she says.