When Aneesa Ferreira opened her college application and approached the page where students normally check the box of their appropriate race, she paused. There was no option for a half-Polish Jew, half-Trinidadian Muslim.

The self-identified “gay, black and Jewish” MTV Real World Chicago cast member who spoke at the Multiracial Biracial Student Association’s annual multicultural awareness event, found herself struggling to fit her complicated identity onto the application with a simple one-word description.

“I checked other, like I’m an alien or a strange animal,” Ferreira said.

Instead of forcing herself to settle on one race, the MTV star and about 70 students celebrated their racial complexity during the multiracial student group’s annual Mixed Madness events this week.

The week’s main event, held last night in the Stamp Student Union’s Colony Ballroom, began with a mock episode of MTV’s The Real World, called “The Real Mixed World,” which featured mixed students encountering the difficulties they face because of their ethnicities. One scene featured a man speaking Spanish to a half-black, half-white student because he thought she was Puerto Rican.

The half-black, half-white student was club Vice President Cathy Catanzaro, who decides to identify as both races instead of just choosing one.

“There were Black student groups and Latino organizations, but nothing for students who identify themselves with more than one race; it’s a big deal to decide where to go,” said Catanzaro. “I’m as much white as I am black.”

The multiracial student group is a 25-member organization formed four years ago in order to provide students of more than one race with a student group that fits them, Catanzaro said.

Last night’s event, attended by about 70 students, also featured a musical performance featuring alumna Eva Castillo, who is half-Filipino and half-Belizian, and poem readings from students Justin Orlando Fair and Jordan Weston about their multiracial experiences.

“I participated in the event to raise awareness of the different types of people at this university,” said Fair, a freshman theater and art major. “I want people to look beyond skin color and see you as a person.”

Ferreira called the event “wonderful” because she has never had access to a multiracial student organization while in college. “I went to my school’s Black student organization for like a day, then quit,” she said.

Ferreira said that while her brother chooses to identify himself as black, she considers it disrespectful to her parents to “leave anything out.”

“I’m the United Nations. I’m fine with that. I embrace everything,” said Ferreira.

She also discussed her experiences on The Real World. Commenting on the show’s usual predictable selection of token diverse cast members, Ferreira said: “The producers already have your story picked out for you. If you’re like a quarter something, they’re like, ‘That works.'”

She also discussed a fight with a co-star on MTV’s The Duel when her drunken roommate asked Ferreira, “What are you? Are you black, are you white?”

“Being a public figure, I can have a common bond with people like me who do not fit in,” she said in an interview. “It’s cool that people like me can relate to what I go through.”

Castillo said she has always reflected positively and been accepted for her mixed ethnicity, which she largely attributes to being raised in Virginia Beach, a diverse military town.

“Events like this let people be aware that we exist,” Castillo said. “It’s nice to see other people with same backgrounds who deal with the same issues.”

Junior Chaz Ball, who is black, said he attended the event to “hear different perspectives and interact with different walks of life.”

The week’s event began on Tuesday with a bone marrow drive for multiracial patients, who, according to Catanzaro, face a shortage in donors. An after party held tonight in the Colony Ballroom will raise donations for the Save Darfur Coalition.

Contact reporter Mark Cullip at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.