It’s Monday, Feb 24 and students walk around a flag-studded library with dozens of countries being represented. At lunch, they are greeted with the smells of food they have never seen before. Outside the great hall, different activities are set up. International Week has begun.
From Feb. 24-28, the whole school got to experience multiple cultures and countries thanks to International Week. The week is split up into five days, with each representing a different culture.
“The goal of International Week is just to show all of the cultures,” junior Jackson Ostella, a member of the International Week Committee, said. “We show the traditions of each culture through the games they play and the food they eat.”
The committee works almost five weeks before the actual event to prepare all of the activities and food that will be involved during the week. They also take care of the countries that they want to highlight.
“We go to meetings, which is once a week, about five weeks prior to the actual International Week,” Ostella said. “We plan the activities that are going to happen before school, during lunch and the music before school.”
While Monday and Friday serve as all-culture days, Tuesday through Thursday represent Spanish, Chinese and Latin, respectively. There are multiple activities during the week at upper school lunch, middle school lunch and community time.
“While I was running the all cultures day last period, I noticed a lot of people were very intrigued by the gongi game, which is from Korea, and then the boleros,” Ostella said. “And people were struggling a lot with that, and then everyone was very interested in making creative buttons.”
Apart from activities, students can enjoy varying music in the mornings that is played by the committee. SAGE also works on showcasing International Week’s cultures through their food as each day represents a new cuisine.
During Spanish day, the committee organized a game in which many students lined up to break a piñata and collect the candy inside.
“I went to an authentic Mexican party and candy store which sold piñatas made in Mexico,” Ostella said. “Those were a huge hit among the middle schoolers and upper schoolers who loved playing with the loved watching the experience and eating the authentic Mexican candies.”
The week included a poster contest which involved grades from Lower through Upper School. Each student created a poster with criteria based on the level of language they are enrolled in. The winners of the contests, judged by the committee, have their posters hanging upstairs in Hoffman Hall, having also been awarded prizes.
Marksmen Multicultural Night was also on the same week as International Week which ended up creating a grand display of cultures on Wednesday.