World ACTion Festival informs UNCW students

Students, faculty and members of the Wilmington community came together at the World ACTion Festival at the Burney Center. The event was held to highlight the Synergy Common Reading book for this fall, "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier." Organizations present included the American Red Cross, UNCW Sustainability Committee and the Muslim Student Association.

The start of the festival was filled with music outside in the courtyard and inside the Burney Center. Tempo, a band made up of UNCW music students, played outside, while the sounds of Transtrum filled the Burney Center. Transtrum, which plays West African-inspired music, played songs that originated from Cuba, Brazil, Arabia and Africa.

While the music was playing, people could view the different stations set up around the room and in the lobby. The people involved in each organization were there to answer questions.

Ben Thompson, a junior in high school, stood by the Full Belly Organization table and represented one of the many volunteers involved. Thompson started working at Full Belly Saturdays to build machines to send over to third world countries. Now, Thompson has an internship with the organization and hopes to go abroad to see the impact he has made overseas.

Speeches were made after Transtrum played their music. Gabrielle Follette, a UNCW student, spoke about the complexity of identity and unity of a community. Her personal multicultural experience opened the doors to the other speeches. A group of students from a crime against the community class presented facts on child soldiers in fighting countries.

Students promoting the Soles for Souls Organization gave out pamphlets and showed their efforts for the whole festival. Alan Pierre'Louis said he, "wished people knew more about the festival; it wasn't promoted enough."

"Students will leave here with a sense of how they can get involved globally and locally," said Jenny Adams, a coordinator of the event.