On May 1st, Rockwood Summit and South’s second annual Intercultural night took place. The night consisted of tables representing different cultures around the world such as India, Ukraine, Jordan and Korea. Each table incorporated food, sports, clothing, or crafts.
Spanish teacher Kim Lackey hosted a table representing Mexican culture. She created Mexican paper flowers which were used for ceremonies, burials, and other reasons. The flower was then transformed throughout the years.
“The flowers are made of thin and colored paper called papel de China (tissue paper), [which] arrived with the Manila Galleons, a Spanish trading ship. The tissue is folded and cut to create a flower design. It’s a decoration that is common because it’s easy to make,” Lackey said.
The event, organized by PSO member Shana Thomas, had over ten tables. She said that promoting inclusion is an important mission of the PSO, which motivated them to host.
“Part of our role with PSO is diversity and inclusion so we really wanted to find a way where we could bring the whole quadrant together and really celebrate that,” Thomas said.
South Korea presented their honey biscuits named Yak-Gwa and Japan taught the visitors origami. Similarly, Jordan passed Arab pita bread along with the sides of labneh, a sour yogurt, and hummus along with a display of their red, black, and white cultural dresses. Afghanistan distributed potato filled flat-bread called Bolani.
In addition to the cuisine, there was a fashion show to showcase the diverse culture. It included traditional Indian clothing called Saris, Afghan clothing called Kalay-Afghani, and Iraqi and Jordanian Thobes and Abayas. Henna, a natural temporary tattoo from the Middle East and Africa, was painted in unique designs onto the visitors’ hands.
Other Rockwood schools such as Marquette and Lafayette have had cultural days regularly for many years, which also inspired Thomas to start the tradition at Summit.
“We saw in past years that a lot of other schools in Rockwood were starting to do some kind of international night so we wanted to start something. We’re calling our’s intercultural night this year instead of international night so that it can include Puerto Rico, and Native American cultures,” Thomas said.
Thomas said these events help all students within the school community feel represented and welcomed.
“We have a lot of families from different cultures and different countries that we felt we needed to celebrate and make them feel seen. These are cultures and countries that we don’t hear a lot about. Maybe we go to school with some of these kids, but they’re probably not coming to school in traditional clothes, so it’s important to have everyone realize these are the things that happen to these kids and families when they are not at school,” Thomas said.
