Naperville International Festival aims for cultural awareness, acceptance

With an ever-changing population in the Naperville area, Jack Shindler believes in the importance of cultural education and acceptance.

Through North Central College's International Festival, he hopes to create an environment for various cultural groups to come together and learn about one another.

"Naperville's no longer what it used to be. It's becoming much more diverse," said Shindler, the college's director of international programs.

Hundreds of people filled the Merner Field House in Naperville Sunday for the 20th annual festival, which also raises money for the college's International Scholarship Fund.

More than a dozen cultural groups and college clubs displayed information along walls of the Gregory Arena. Children made crafts, and attendees took 40-minute classes where they learned to speak a bit of Spanish, Japanese, German or Arabic.

"It's important to have the awareness and understanding of face-to-face interaction with people of different cultures," Shindler said. "As long as there's something for everybody to learn, we're doing what we hoped to do."

Cultural groups also performed routines - a favorite of Bolingbrook resident Ian Moore, who danced Sunday with the Weber School of Irish Dance.

Rebecca Moore, a North Central College alumna and Ian's mother, said the 8-year-old was enamored of the dances, music and costumes he saw in other performances.

"(The festival) brings together a bunch of different groups of people," she said. "That's always important."

Though several organizations, such as Naperville's Sister Cities Commission, have participated in the event for several years, Shindler said organizers like to "mix it up" by welcoming new groups. This year, the Islamic Center of Naperville and the college's Muslim Student Association made their first appearances.

"I think it means a lot to cultural groups to be able to come out here and show their traditions," Shindler said.