Professors Sahar Joakim-Resch and Shamim Ansari put cultures on display
NOTE TO READERS: This story originally appeared in the Montage’s December 2025 issue.
BY: LINDSEY UNNERSTALL
Sports Editor
The week of Nov. 17-21 was International Education Week, and all of the STLCC campuses held and participated in events all week to celebrate and educate students on different countries and cultures. One of the biggest events on the Meramec campus was the International Education Week Festival that took place in the campus cafeteria on Nov. 18.
The festival consisted of different tables, each focusing on one country to teach about using books, food and pictures. The countries that were represented included Germany, Spain, Japan, France, England, Scotland, Iran and Pakistan. Each country had a faculty member representing it with artifacts, crafts, displays and treats in the hopes of celebrating culture and expanding students’ global knowledge.
The Meramec campus global education coordinator, Shamim Ansari, arranged the event with all of the members of the committee representing a country at their respective table.
“Every college and university, every year, does International Education Week in November. It’s a week where every college and university’s main task is to advocate for whatever study abroad programs they are offering, and any kinds of scholarships they are offering,” Ansari said.
In the coming years there will be professors taking students to Germany, Scotland, England, Spain and Japan, according to Ansari. The committee’s goal is that the students are exposed to these countries and are aware of the study abroad programs at the college so that there are more opportunities for students to study abroad in the future.
The Global Education Committee does many different events throughout the school year, with the main functions being the International Education Week Festival in the fall and a book sale in the spring. The book sale raises money for both the study abroad scholarships and the materials needed for the Education Festival.
“It used to be that Global Education would be supported by the college a lot, but I think the state of Missouri kind of pulled back from it. Meramec also had to pull back from it and so the budget that we used to have is zero dollars now,” Ansari said. “It is a pity because we used to do a lot more, but we can’t do it anymore. I have been here doing this job for such a long time, I’ve seen how it used to be and now it’s like our hands are tied.”
Besides the festival, the campus hosted many presentations from different professors and staff, ranging from information about specific countries to experiences with immigration and American citizenship. There were presentations on refugees and an international student panel where students from other countries got up and presented their country and what it’s like to be in America. Professors and students also had the chance to present their study abroad programs, and there was even a session where Ikebana was taught, which is a Japanese way to arrange flowers.
Philosophy professor Dr. Sahar Joakim-Resch did a presentation on Iran and discussed topics of Iranian philosophy, history, religion, art, politics and science. She has been doing these presentations for three years now, after getting involved in the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement across the campuses in 2022. Ansari was in the audience of her first presentation and recruited Joakim-Resch to present on the Meramec campus about Iran.
“I did a talk at Meramec the following year in the lecture hall, and there were over 100 people there. There was no room to sit or stand. It was absolutely crazy,” Joakim-Resch said.
Joakim-Resch presented on the topic again the following year, just weeks after having her baby. She had planned to recycle her slideshow from the year before, but after recent events occurring between Iran, Israel and America, she ended up adding a lot of information and had a whole new presentation to give. When she presented the topic again this year, she included information as recent as just days before her lecture.
“I brought in artifacts from my house. I pulled something off the wall and bagged it up and brought it delicately to school and my students hung around after and they were looking at all the artifacts. It was really beautiful to see them engaging with it,” said Joakim-Resch.
Joakim-Resch recalled many connections with students of her own, as well as others, bonding over artifacts she had brought in and her talk itself.
“One student who I actually don’t know, he was going so insane over the instrument that I brought, which is a Santoor, one of the first string instruments ever invented. And he was so excited to be able to interact with the instrument, he was tearing up,” Joakim-Resch said.
Joakim-Resch prepared handouts with information, definitions and explanations about topics in her speech in hopes that the students would do something with the information they learned, rather than leave it behind after the session was over.
“I decided that what I wanted to do was inspire people’s curiosity. I wanted them to look stuff up, to go and research something, to go and get excited about something,” said Joakim-Resch. “I think you need to have a true impact where the student is going to leave the event and then still think about it, talk about it, try to do something about it.”
Joakim-Resch’s lecture was packed, with all of the chairs filled and students standing around the room and hovering near the door to the room she presented in. The audience ranged from professors and staff to students of all ages, some still in high school and some in their 70s. There were even people logged in to her lecture via zoom.
“It was beautiful, literally what community college is supposed to be. It wasn’t transactional. It wasn’t going to help someone get an internship. It was literally just to learn for the sake of learning,” said Joakim-Resch.
The turnout and impact of her lecture didn’t go unnoticed by Joakim-Resch, and that is why she continues to present during this week year after year.
“I’m so excited to have this job. I feel so grateful. I didn’t get paid for giving this presentation,” Joakim-Resch said. “Students chose to show up that day. They saw it and they decided that it was worth their time. I feel so honored.”
