All the Stars came out as Braelinn Elementary celebrated the diversity of cultures at their school with Cultural Arts Night.
According to Assistant Principal Dr. Brandi Walker, Cultural Arts Night began with a desire for students to learn more about other cultures.
“Braelinn is home to students of many different backgrounds, and this event gives our Stars and their families an opportunity to represent a culture to which they have strong ties and to experience a small piece of a culture which is different from their own.”
Families with diverse cultural backgrounds designed tables to educate the students about 12 different countries: India, Japan, Austria, UK, Russia, Italy, Poland, Germany, Ivory Coast, South Africa, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico. At each table, students could see photos of the country or culture represented, including photos with their classmates visiting the locations.
“These families are truly the heart of this event as they share their roots and history,” said Walker. “The gymnasium transforms as conversations fill the air — conversations about the things that we have in common and the things which are new to us.”
The hosts brought interactive components to their tables, such as tasty food, musical instruments, crafts, and a lot of authentic items to touch. There were many interesting activities, including applying colorful powders from the Indian Diwali Festival, folding origami, rolling a Russian pancake, learning croquet, and playing a djembe drum from Ivory Coast.
To end the evening, a demonstration of Taekwondo was performed by black belt athletes from Master Shim’s, led by a 4th grade Braelinn student. The performance was followed by all of the children joining together in the gym to dance to the famous “Chicken Dance” from Switzerland.
One 3rd grader said, “My favorite part about Cultural Arts Night is that we get to share about and learn about the countries that we each represent.”
Dr. Walker was thrilled to see the Stars enjoying themselves.
“It is safe to say that our students and their families left the event with full hearts and a longing to travel and explore new places.”
