By Maddyx Bride and Aya O’Neal, News Copy Editor and Arts Copy Editor // Colorful booths, the smell of tasty foods, and live music greet students as they enter the Cultural Fair.
Leadership’s Diversity Board hosted the Cultural Fair on April 20 in the Acalanes Chris Huber Gym, including decorated booths representing different countries. The annual event at Acalanes High School allows students to learn about other cultures and display their own.
“It’s a way for people to showcase a country. So you create a booth, and in that booth you have photos of the country, fun facts, and sample size food servings of national dishes … it’s a way for [People of Color] students on campus to feel better understood and included,” Diversity Board member and sophomore Lucy O’Brien said.
Diversity Board members mention the importance of a Cultural Fair at Acalanes to celebrate diverse cultures.
“The Cultural Fair is relevant today due to how diverse our student body is … everyone is from somewhere, and it’s important to acknowledge and spotlight it,” Diversity Board member and junior Gabe Gardener said.
Students who ran a booth emphasized that sentiment, appreciating the occasion to revisit and share their heritage.
“This project made me realize there are so many cool things that I didn’t realize I knew [about my culture], and it felt really good to share. It brought me back to my heritage,” sophomore Kaya Hoeberechts said.
Some students hosted a booth on behalf of their club and used their prior knowledge to create well-informed presentations.
“We were asked by the Diversity Board for [Asian Student Union] ASU to have a booth. We are doing Japan because one of our officers is Japanese. She found these informational slides, and we made these really cool poster boards,” ASU President and junior Kira Chan said.
Attendees noted that the event offers the ability to experience many cultures and foods without traveling abroad.
“It is a cool experience to see all these countries that you probably haven’t been to and exploring all these foods that you haven’t had before. It’s like taking a mini vacation to all these places,” ASU co-officer and junior Megan Yee said.
Students are already looking forward to attending the Cultural Fair next year and are excited about what it will bring.
“It seems like people were really enjoying our [booth’s] food, and a lot of people said it was really fun, so I think we should do the Cultural Fair again,” frosh Sara Williams said.
Future Diversity Board members in next year’s Leadership program already have plans for improvement for next year’s event.
“Next year, we are going to elevate it even more … We are going to have more cultures[represented] and [more] booths and increase participation by providing incentives for people to attend or host booths,” Rising Diversity Board Head and junior Monty Gumabay said.