Music and food were among the demonstrations the Saudi Students' Club organized for its guests Friday night.
Members of the club celebrated the establishment of their group Friday night at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center.
The celebration started with the Vice President Ahmad Qutub, reciting the Quran, followed by a speech from the president and the faculty advisor.
The director of the international office, Scott Cantrell, also spoke the beginning of the ceremony. He said he would like to see members of the Saudi Students' Club establish connections with other students on campus and Muncie in general, to make a bond between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
"One of the things I want to do is encourage you to establish yourself as an ambassador," Cantrell said. "To establish yourself and promote the individual diplomacy, that diplomacy is very important."
Plans for organizing the Saudi Students' Club were made by Khoolod Alshareaf, president of the group. Alshareaf said she came to Ball State in 2009. She was a student at Southern Illinois University Carbondale prior to coming to Ball State.
She said she wanted to establish some connection with other students from Saudi Arabia at Ball State, so she requested the e-mails from the students and made a call to whoever was interested.
Although the group started to meet in December and had started to do activities and events, they had not officially established themselves.
Omar Benkato, advisor of the Saudi Students' Club, said he agreed to help the group because he thought it was good for the students to help each other to learn and adapt themselves with the U.S. culture.
He said he would like to see the group show other cultures about themselves and their country.
"I would like to see them succeed as students that came to this country and also show the good side of their culture and their country," Benkato said.
Although the group had taken the first step, which was establishing themselves, there is more that needs to be done, he said.
"So far so good but every organization depends on how sincere and how active the members are," Benkato said.
There are about 65 students from Saudi Arabia. Alshareaf said they expect 78 more students to come to take summer classes. She said the Saudi Students' Club will be working to find a place for the students to stay and to provide them with whatever they need.
Despite the activities in the summer, Alshareaf said she would like to make more events in the future, starting in the fall.
"I'm really happy to do this, I think I'm proud of myself," she said. "It was quite a challenge for me to [organize this group]."
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