My cousin Ryan came to visit this weekend. After four years of promising to visit me, meet my friends and see Iowa State, he finally came. Good thing too, his days were kind of numbered since I’ll graduate in four weeks.

Only three months younger than I am, Ryan and I have been friends our whole lives and I was excited to introduce him to the people and the place that have been such a big part of my life.

Ryan and his friend, Tony, showed up around 7:30 p.m. and the three of us headed downtown for pizza with plans to meet my friends who were barhopping on Welch Avenue later.

At least those were our plans, until I found out that Tony wasn’t 21 and almost all of Welch Avenue would be pretty much off-limits to him.

I wasn’t in the mood to rent movies and stay in for the night, so we explored some of our other options, ending up at the Boheme Bistro on West Street.

I knew the Boheme would be having its World Beat Dance Night, and though I hadn’t gone in a while, it was the best option we had.

So we went.

The heat of people dancing hit us as soon as we walked through the door. So many people, all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, personalities and beliefs, all crowded together on the dance floor moving to music as diverse as they were.

It was wonderful.

Saturday I took Ryan and Tony to campus to show them around. We walked around the library, admired the Christian Petersen sculptures and read the plaque on the Campanile.

We went into the Memorial Union, walked around the zodiac and checked out the Great Hall.

As we were walking through the lower level, we passed the exhibit window filled with posters from LGBTAA Awareness Days. The posters, which featured a heterosexual couple and homosexual couples kissing, were supposed to illustrate the intolerance of homosexuals at Iowa State experience.

Regardless of your opinion on homosexuality, the display did make a point. Some had only a few pieces left; others had more marked messages, like “I don’t want to see this.”

After showing my cousin so many wonderful aspects of Iowa State, the history and tradition and learning that this school is so proud of, I was embarrassed to have him see this.

The evening before, we had seen the incredible diversity Iowa State has to offer; standing in front of the display case, we saw a reaction to that diversity.

Iowa State makes a great first impression. With our beautiful buildings, carefully planned landscaping and sweeping expanses of space, like Central Campus, we present an image of prestige and intelligence.

But how far below the surface does this image go? Are we intelligent enough to look at the world changing around us and realize we need to change with it?

All this week, the ISU community will celebrate Veishea, an event created to showcase the progress at our university to those outside the community. Next Saturday, students across campus will hold open houses to display what they are most proud of, whether it be their research, club or individual talent.

They will show the diversity of Iowa State.

Iowa is known for its homogeneous population, for the fact that 93.9 percent of our population is of only one race. But if the “brain drain” we all hear about is any indication, chances are many of the students on campus today will leave the state as soon as they have their degree. They will leave for places very different than the communities they grew up in, and they may not be prepared for the change.

On Saturday, instead of heading straight to Welch Avenue and doing the same thing you can do every other weekend of the year, take an hour or two and walk around campus.

Check out the buildings you’ve never been in before and find out what the people in your community are doing. Take some time to absorb the wide variety of people, ideas and beliefs surrounding you.

You may not agree with everything you see and hear, but in today’s world you cannot afford to ignore any of it.

Andrea Hauser is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Edgewood. She is editor in chief of the Daily.