The National Society of Black Engineers at LSU hosted a potluck for its members and international students on Friday in the Global Community Center.
NSBE senator and international zone chair Habeeb Falade is an electrical engineering senior and an international student from Nigeria. Falade said he organized the potluck to foster a sense of community among international students around Thanksgiving.
The NSBE encouraged students to bring cultural dishes. Many students brought traditional Louisianian cuisine like red beans and rice, jambalaya, pastalaya and beignets. Other food included jollof rice, which is a Nigerian dish with West African spices, chips and queso and traditional American desserts like chocolate cake and apple pie.
Eniola Oyadeyi, a mechanical engineering junior, said she joined the NSBE at LSU to connect with other black engineers and students with similar interests. While Oyadeyi is not an international student, she is Nigerian and said the potluck was a good place to share her culture and learn about others. She brought the jollof rice.
Oyadeyi said her favorite parts of the NSBE are the professional development events.
“I’ve learned so much and I’ve met so many different companies,” Oyadeyi said. “It’s a good way to make connections before you graduate college.”
Southern University’s NSBE, which is LSU NSBE’s sister chapter, was also at the potluck. Falade said that because neither school has a large international student population, the event helped connect the two small communities.
Katherine Nash is Southern University’s NSBE secretary and international chair and attends both Southern and LSU. She is a sophomore majoring in chemistry at Southern and chemical engineering at LSU.
Nash said this potluck also gave both NSBE chapters a chance to get to know each other before they compete together at the Fall Regional Conference in Houston in late November. She said her favorite part of the event was seeing people that she worked with last year.
“Last year I was the academic excellence chair and I had the chance to work with some of the executive board members from LSU’s chapter,” Nash said. “It’s really nice to see us now in bigger roles within our organizations.”
To learn more about the National Society of Black Engineers, you can follow their Instagram (@nsbe_lsu) or join them on TigerLink.
