This year, PolyCultural Weekend will be held in conjunction with Open House on April 9-11, university spokesperson Keegan Koberl said in an email to Mustang News.
The Multicultural Center, Student Development and Belonging and the New Student and Transition Programs Department are working together to create a track for PolyCultural Weekend (PCW) within Open House, according to Koberl.
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PCW is a three-day overnight program where conditionally accepted students stay on campus with a host student, to learn more about the cultural community on campus and engage in conversation, according to the Multicultural Center website. This weekend features a PCW Got Talent show with Cal Poly’s different cultural organizations.
Participants in the PCW track will attend specific events with their host and also have full opportunities to engage in Open House academic programming, Koberl said. Activities participants can choose from include a drag workshop, hiking, bowling, dancing and a silent disco, according to the Cal Poly website.
The student-run PolyCultural Weekend (PCW) announced that the theme for this year will be growing together, according to PCW’s Instagram. This theme celebrates PCW’s distinct identities, cultures and lived experiences and represents their community like a collective garden.
Business administration junior Haley Wong is on board of the Chinese Student Association and was a host for PCW in her freshman year. Wong said that this collaboration will bring in a lot of people.
“Growing together is the PolyCultural Weekend theme, so I think it’s really fitting we’re teaming up with Open House too, so it’s bringing in more Cal Poly community,” Wong said.
A full list of clubs involved in PCW can be found on the Multicultural Center website.
Biomedical engineering sophomore Emily Reyes has boothed for Pilipino Cultural Exchange (PCE) at PCW 2025 and performed in a dance for Hui ‘O Hawai’i during a performance for the students. She said that the theme is symbolic of how cultures are able to come together, even if each culture is different.
“When they come together as one bouquet, it’s going to be beautiful either way,” Reyes said.
Reyes said PCW is important at Cal Poly because Cal Poly is seen as a predominantly white school, it shows prospective students that there are people on campus that they can create a community with and they will not be alone.
Reyes talked to prospective students last year attending this program.
“They were really scared about Cal Poly being predominantly white,” Reyes said. “They were like ‘Oh I don’t know if I’m going to fit in or have fun or meet people for me because it’s a place where I want to have people who have similar backgrounds to me. It was interesting and kind of sad to hear that that’s how Cal Poly is perceived. So I was hoping to help my friends change that perception.”
Koberl said PCW will support students from historically underserved backgrounds and those interested in multicultural communities on campus.
“PCW is designed to complement Open House by centering cultural connection, community-building and engagement with student organizations,” Koberl said.
Chemistry sophomore Ryan Lampitok has high hopes for PCW this year and thinks the theme is beautiful. He attended his freshman year, and his host, who was in PCE, is now one of his best friends. One year later he hosted for PCW 2025.
“The event proved to me that Cal Poly was a school worth going to,” Lampitok said. “Seeing the [communities] in action, I really wanted to be a part of it.”
During the program, Lampitok said there were a lot of events, including bowling, friendship bracelet making and a movie. Attendees were also able to go on tours of their respective colleges.
“I had a lot of fun hanging out with [my host and his friends] and being a college student per se for like a few days before I was actually a college student,” Lampitok said.
Business administration junior Nicole Angel Sabuero thinks the theme, for PCE specifically, shows how connections work and how hosts and the prospective students form friendships. She thinks the program is a cool way to make a connection with someone on campus before going to college.
