At the initiative of several students of Serbian origin, Serbian Cultural Clubwas recently founded at the prestigious US DePaul University based in Chicago with the aim to bring together all our academics who study there, regardless of whether they came from the homeland to study or were born and raised in America.

Third-year management student Katarina Anđelković was the first to come up with the idea to start the Serbian Cultural Club, and was later joined by others.

– I saw that students of other nations, Greeks, Albanians had their clubs at the university, so I thought why shouldn’t we Serbs also have ours? I contacted some people I knew, my sister Emilia, my friend Mia, created a group on Google, which some 16-17 students of our origin joined in a short period of time. There are those who were born and raised in the US, like me, who had come from Serbia, Novi Sad, at the age of only two. But also those who received scholarships and have come recently from Serbia, says Katarina.

Her colleague Marko Ljuboja was also born in the US, grew up in Chicago, and is currently a sophomore studying computer science at DePaul.

– Social networks are the best way of communicating nowadays, so we started an Instagram profile, which soon gathered around 100 followers, and we believe that there are actually a lot more students of Serbian origin at DePaul than we first thought. As soon as the holidays are over, we are going to have the first official gathering in January, which will also be an opportunity for a headcount.

When asked what kind of activities they plan to organize, they both say in unison that their main task will be the promotion of Serbian culture

– Song, dance, music... everything from our culture and tradition that makes us proud. We will organize concerts, gatherings, parties, dinners, we will make pancakes. We will focus a lot of attention on humanitarian actions, because we want to help children and youth in need in Serbia. When I was younger, I attended St Sava Academy in Chicago, where we studied Serbian language and history, which has always made proud, says Katarina Anđelković.

Her colleague Marko has experience with traditional Serbian dances...

– I danced in the Oplenac Folklore Group for years, until I finished high school here in Chicago, so I will be able to support the work of our cultural club in that sense. As a freshman, I did not meet any Serbs and I was wondering whether it was possible that there were no our students at DePaul in a city where so many of our people live. I joined Katarina and then, to our great happiness, we discovered that there were quite a few of us, so I expect everyone to join our club. On this occasion, I invite them to follow us on Instagram and send us a message to get to know each other.

Finally, Katarina and Marko say that they will not be engaging in politics and that DePaul University Serbian Cultural Club welcomes everyone who wants to socialize and promote Serbian culture.

Source: Serbian Times

Photo: Private archive