A little wind and rain couldn’t keep students, faculty and friends of Multicultural Student Affairs from celebrating a year of accomplishments.

“Celebrations!” – organized by the Multicultural Student Programming Advisory Council – honored many students for their achievements in academics and leadership roles Tuesday evening at the Knapp-Storms dining complex.

“We are exceptionally pleased with the turnout,” said John Gardner, graduate assistant for Multicultural Student Affairs and graduate student in educational leadership and policy studies.

“Despite the fact that we were fighting the weather and that the location was off campus, we feel like we had a great turnout and we appreciate everyone that made their way out tonight,” said Gardner.

The evening began with a buffet dinner and a performance by the Vietnamese Student Association, who performed a traditional Vietnamese dance complete with umbrellas and conical hats.

“Their performance was excellent; we really appreciate them giving their time, and we hope to have them for more events in the future,” Gardner said.

Later, another traditional dance was performed by the Organization of Latino Students. They performed dances from several Latin American countries.

Jeff Johnson, president of the ISU Alumni Association, was the keynote speaker for the evening. His speech was somewhat untraditional as he gave advice to the students. He left the podium to have an intimate conversation with those in attendance about tips aspiring students can use when they are in a professional dinner situation in the future.

Johnson said manners can go a long way in securing a good job with high pay, but using good manners is not asking someone to “be white.”

“I am not asking you at all to be white, because in our culture, these things come up,” Johnson said. “What I’m asking you to be is the best that you can be, and there are some rules to the trade to help you get to the next level.”

Johnson’s speech became a conversation with the crowd about good manners.

Johnson demonstrated many ideas he has picked up over the years on how to use manners, many of which were new information to the crowd.

The crowd was captivated and entertained by the speech – people could be seen trying out new ways to hold knives and forks to minimize clanking sounds or attempting to hold a plate, glass and napkin while handing an imaginary business card to an imaginary business executive.

“Johnson’s speech was great. The way he connected with the crowd and made it a conversation instead of just a speech and just his general demeanor and the way he approached things was excellent,” Gardner said. “The advice he gave out will hopefully be very helpful for all of our students.”

The planners of the event were pleased with the entire evening and had many good things to say about the speakers and performances.

“Overall the night has gone extremely well,” Gardner said. “We want to thank all of our volunteers and all of the various colleges, the president’s office, the vice presidents office, the dean of students; everything went great.”