Waynesburg University’s Student Activities Board is hosting a trip to the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh Saturday, Nov. 23. 

Michelle Keith, graduate assistant for Student Services, coordinated the logistics of the trip, which costs $5 per student. After the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh trip was added to the university calendar, Keith worked to ensure all details would be properly arranged, including transportation, hours and coordinating social media and print promotion.

This year’s trip to the University of Pittsburgh’s Nationality Rooms will be the same as it has been arranged in previous years, Keith said .

“Students will get a chance to visit the Pitt Nationality Rooms and then enjoy lunch at the Pittsburgh-famous Pamela’s diner,” she said.

The Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh are located within the Cathedral of Learning, the tallest academic building in the western hemisphere. The Nationality Rooms are classrooms utilized by the university that are decorated to represent the different ethnicities that immigrated to Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located. 

According to the University of Pittsburgh’s website, these rooms were designed to enhance the learning experience of students, as they are able to learn not only from the course curriculum, but from the classrooms themselves. 

The rooms are meticulously decorated to represent dozens of different cultures, including Italian, Japanese, Armenian and Norwegian, among others. The University of Pittsburgh redecorates the Nationality Rooms near the Christmas season to show how each culture celebrates the holiday. 

The holiday decor of the rooms has boosted the success of the trip in past years, said Keith.

“I think students enjoy going on this trip because, not only is it historically informative and an opportunity to experience other cultures, but around Christmas time, the rooms are all decorated for the Christmas season, which gets everyone in a festive mood,” she said.

The University of Pittsburgh is well-known for its Nationality Rooms and receives high tourist traffic, particularly around the Christmas season.

According to the University of Pittsburgh’s website, the tours held displaying the Nationality Rooms garner nearly 30,000 visitors yearly. 

The trip to the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms is common among residents of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and Keith is no stranger to the impressiveness of the classrooms.

“As someone who has grown up in Pittsburgh, I’ve visited the Pitt Nationality rooms several times,” Keith said. “The beauty of them never gets old.” 

The classrooms are designed with great detail and accuracy for each particular ethnicity to evoke pride in the heritage of visitors and a warm appreciation of other cultures, states the website.

The trip offers an opportunity for students to explore the city of Pittsburgh and broaden their horizons to new cultures, just in time for the holidays.

“If students have gone every year, or it’s their first time, students will get a chance to enjoy learning about other cultures and Christmas traditions, while getting to see some of downtown Pittsburgh during the holiday season,” Keith said.