This past Saturday, the International Center held a Bar-B-Q at Sunnyside Park under the covered picnic area.

The event officially started at 11 a.m. and people slowly began to arrive at the park. Organizers of the BBQ worked tirelessly to keep the grill fired up for burgers, and provided other snacks to everyone. The BBQ also provided veggie burgers for anyone who does not eat meat.

Jovial conversations ranging from Korean dramas to travel made it effortless for friendships to form at this IC event. Students also fed the ducks in a nearby pond while the hosts began grilling. 

A side note – refrain from feeding ducks bread or other things considered junk food. Bread has no nutritional value to ducks, according to FriscoLibrary.com. When they eat too much, this can cause malnutrition or even painful deformities.

“Feed ducks cracked corn, oats, rice, birdseed, frozen peas, chopped lettuce or sliced grapes,” according to FriscoLibrary’s Dos and Don’ts list.

Ducks forage foods like these on their own. Avoid leaving unhealthy food behind and keep a respectful distance while remaining non-threatening. Even the ducks most used to humans still do not want to be pet!

Taking the animal’s health into consideration, the group fed the ducks some lettuce that the IC had brought. Although the ducks did not seem to be interested in the lettuce, the group had fun nonetheless.

People ate and chatted amongst themselves for about a half-hour, enjoying their burgers, macaroni and potato salad.  Some broke off to play on the swings and the playground to let their inner kid out; others went to the field and played some soccer or, as it’s known in the rest of the world, football.

Zhifong (Ella) Hsieh, freshman interior design major, said she came for the free food and a relaxing time when most are studying for finals.

“[I’ve] probably [made] more than 10 [friends],” said Yanoka Watanabe, sophomore psychology major. “This is the main source of making friends.”

Hsieh said she agreed and that she probably made a lot of friends. She said friendships aren’t something you really count. Both Hsieh and Watanabe have been involved with the IC since the Fall of 2021 and have found many friends since joining the WSU community.

After finishing their food, they watched their peers play an exciting game of soccer and gather together despite many people not knowing each other beforehand.

There are many great ways WSU allows students to make friends. Joining a club or even getting a job on campus can help you make friends outside of classes. These things can widen a student’s worldview, especially if you’re talking to people from different places around the world.

Join the IC at 3 p.m. Friday for their final relaxing Coffee Hour of the semester. Enjoy board games, puzzles, coloring and free snacks.