On March 24th, Chestermere High began their weeklong celebration and recognition of the diverse amount of culture that exists within their school. The event has been organized through student government as well as with Jodi Neetz from Stepping Stones To Mental Health for the past few weeks. The goal of the project was to enhance the strength of student community and bring to light different aspects of cultures that exist within the school.
From Monday to Thursday, different events were held during the lunch hour to prep students for Friday’s fair. With activities such as drumming circles, henna body art, cultural fashions, food, and music, students could enjoy different pieces of the world while they ate.
On Friday, an assembly was held for each of the grades at the school. This way, the kids would be able to come and walk around the gym in smaller groups that could be efficiently interacted with on a more personal level. Each assembly featured different acts of entertainment. For all three assemblies, the Chestermere High School concert and jazz band performed pieces from different styles of music including a Russian theme, as well as a piece called, “Charade” by Henry Mancini. For modern pop culture, the band performed “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, which featured two vocalists. High school teacher Mr. Barillas also entertained audience members with an accordion performance featuring songs originated in Italy. After the assembly portion of the event had commenced, students were able to get up and walk around the walls of the gym, which featured tri-folds made by each homeroom. Each tri-fold focused on a different country and their culture, such as Switzerland, Korea, Egypt, and many more. Jillian Mole, a grade 11 student at the school, made a dress in her fashions class that coincided with a tri-fold that focused on Africa and African culture, “I saw a picture from Africa that had this pattern on it,” she says, “so I used it to construct a dress that would represent that style that is unique to Africa.”
For the grade 11’s, a Punjabi dance group made their way up on stage and performed their dance to a series of different songs. The constant change in choreography and music kept the kids entertained and intrigued in the overall performance, especially when the dance members used different props and incorporated them in the dance. The grade 12’s had the opportunity to watch girls from the dance group called ‘Diversity’ from Calgary, who did a few African inspired dance combinations as well as a moving and inspiring monologue that lead into another dance routine.
When the routine had ended, the grade 12’s were fortunate enough to take part in a drumming circle. Over fifty kids grabbed a drum or percussion instrument of their own and were educated about what each one was called, as well as the specific purpose of the drum. She also lead the students through three different kinds of stress release practices, one including drumming as loud and as fast as possible, while yelling and shouting. The kids were laughing and thoroughly enjoyed this exercise.
As society progresses, it has been found to be increasingly important to understand each culture and realize how diverse a population, or school community, truly is. Through awareness weeks or days such as this one, people have a chance to learn something new, and open up their minds to expand their recognition of what they deem to be normal.
