During “Sharing French Madeleines” event, UVA’s French and Francophone Club handed out the scallop-shaped cookies to passersby at the Global Week tent near Peabody Hall. Virginia Journal for International Affairs held a authors round table and UVA Nursing students organized “Accent Day for Global Week,” celebrating their ethnic backgrounds,and their non-U.S. American accents. The graduate and undergraduate Partners in Health Engage groups and the Center for Global Health Equity (CGHE) Student Advisory Board paired with CGHE to host a screening of “Bending the Arc,” a documentary about three young people in the 1970s who shaped the face of Global Health projects today.

Student leadership also played a key role in programs such as Volunteers with International Students, Staff, & Scholars (VISAS), which celebrated Global Week with its annual special Global Café in the Nau-Gilman courtyard, featuring lawn games and food from Pearl Island Catering.

VISAS coordinates ESL acquisition for UVA employees and their families and currently has over 300 student volunteers and over 300 ESL participants. One part of VISAS is the weekly Cafés, an hour-long casual group ESL practice sessions with snacks and conversation. Fourth-year student Chris Suppa, the VISAS Café coordinator, explained that he got involved with the program through his Mandarin class and that it helped him find a connection to Grounds.

During the popular returning Global Week Passport Drive, 50 students, staff, faculty, and community members came to Hotel A, where USPS and photographer Cristian Hommel helped prepare and send off their U.S. passport applications. Of the 50 passport applications, half of the applicants were students who received a scholarship from UVA Global for their first passport.

Other highlights from this year included a Center for Politics-sponsored conversation with Jacques Pitteloud, Ambassador of Switzerland to the U.S. and a new global film collaboration with the Virginia Film Festival. The film, 20 Days in Mariupol, is the debut feature documentary from veteran war correspondent Mstyslav Chernov and documents a group of Ukrainian journalists from the Associated Press who find themselves stuck in the besieged city of Mariupol amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Global Week tent activities included a visit from Cavman and a raffle for students to win prizes such as Bose noise-canceling headphones, an Away carry-on suitcase, and UVA swag.

Global Week is another reminder of the global community of UVA with international and U.S. students, faculty, and staff alike celebrating the multiplicity of cultures at on Grounds and the opportunities for global engagement here and abroad.