During this year’s Cultural Awareness Week, students found Taiko drums, Korean pop songs, and Indian clothing all in one place. From the festive Cultural Food Day to the Cultural Awareness Assembly, the week was an exciting time for students to experience and appreciate the diversity of cultures present at West High. Although the events did not begin until Thursday, much time and effort was put into organizing the events. Club International Publicist Dhanu Prathap (11) acknowledged that clubs prepared for the week “by meetings clubs held numerous times this week and afterschool.”

The show started off with a multilingual introduction from the MCs, Kritika Jain (12), Millie Majumder (12), and Ammar Zia (12), preceding the Cultural Fashion Show. Next, numerous multicultural performances were held including an elegant Hawaiian dance, a piece featuring the powerful Taiko drums, popular Korean pop songs dances, as well as a mini-concert of melodious Thailand songs and a demonstration of the Japanese art of Judo. Prathap’s personal expectation for the assembly was that the performances would be able to “wow the audience”, which they did as seen by clapping and cheering of the attentive audience.

To top it off, students supported their history class representative in the Geography contest. Winners of each period attended a final competition during sixth period in order to determine the school winner. Gio Borje (12), winner last year, was again this year’s geography champion.

After the show, students walked around, learning more about the different cultures as they viewed the booths consisting of flags and cultural items. Mindy Hoang (10) commented, “I think they will understand how [diverse] cultures are and how we can still get along with each other.”

Although there was only one week to learn about different traditions throughout the world, it was plenty of time for West High students to take in all of the cultural variety in the school. Prathap believed “there is diversity at West High and all of us should learn to appreciate that fact.”

A special thanks to Mr. Phelps and Club International and everyone who coordinated and supported the events.