Rice University celebrated its third annual Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander (SEAPI) Night Nov. 6, bringing together students, families, alumni and visitors for an evening of cultural performances, traditional food and community celebration. This year’s theme, Woven Together, reflected the organizers’ goal of connecting people across Rice and the Greater Houston area through the sharing of Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander cultures.
The evening was organized by the Rice Vietnamese Student Association, Rice Thai Student Association and Rice Hawaii Club. Emcees Nayounghee Tuetkin and Caroline Nguyen welcomed attendees and expressed their excitement about presenting an event that had been six months in the making.
“This is our third year hosting SEAPI Night, and it’s been a wonderful experience seeing how much it’s grown since it first started in 2024,” Nguyen said. “It’s a night that’s all about bringing people together, and I think it does that in a really unique way with so many community nonprofits, small businesses and local performance groups coming out specifically for SEAPI Night, giving Rice students a chance to learn about Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander cultures not just on campus but in
the wider Houston and Texas communities as well.”
Nguyen said the organizing team spent months preparing the celebration and creating opportunities for the campus and surrounding communities to experience different cultural traditions.
“Our team has been working tirelessly on this event for the last six months to plan, and we are so excited to share what we’ve been working on with you all tonight,” Nguyen said to the crowd.
The theme Woven Together represented more than the gathering of several cultural organizations for one evening. It reflected the organizers’ broader vision of building connections across communities through cultural exchange.
The evening’s entertainment featured performances by several Rice student organizations; it also welcomed special guests from Baylor University and several Houston-area schools. Their participation extended the celebration beyond Rice’s campus, bringing together performers and audiences from different educational institutions and communities.
For junior Jalen Vuong, a mechanical engineering student from Lovett College, events like SEAPI Night offer an enjoyable way to experience cultures beyond his own.
“It’s always nice to have cultural events,” Vuong said. “It’s fun to experience other people’s cultures as well.”
He also noted that cultural events give students something to look forward to, particularly the opportunity to perform and showcase their talents.
Justin Dang ’26 echoed those sentiments. Having performed at SEAPI Night twice, Dang described the event as a meaningful celebration of Southeast Asian cultures that do not always receive wider recognition.
“You have a great celebration of a lot of the Southeast Asian cultures, which I feel like aren’t always necessarily represented on a broader scale,” Dang said. “Because we have so many communities here at Rice, we get to all come together and celebrate.”
The evening also featured an outdoor night market inspired by traditional open-air markets throughout Southeast Asia. The market offered food from local Houston restaurants and small businesses, highlighting the culinary traditions and heritage of Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Student-run and external businesses also had opportunities to sell handmade goods, providing a platform for entrepreneurs to share their work and promote cultural awareness.
The market remained open until 9 p.m., allowing attendees to explore the vendors before and during the performances. A 20-minute intermission offered another opportunity for guests to purchase food, visit vendors and participate in games for a chance to win food tickets. Organizers also surprised attendees with a complimentary food ticket giveaway.
Through its performances, marketplace, food and community participation, SEAPI Night demonstrated how cultural celebrations can create meaningful connections across different backgrounds. As reflected in the theme, the evening was not simply about showcasing individual traditions but about bringing communities together through shared appreciation, cultural expression and understanding.
“Given that the mission of the event is to highlight underrepresented cultures, it’s really heartwarming to see how much visibility it’s gained in the last three years, and we’re really looking forward to seeing how it continues to develop in years to come,” Nguyen said.