Festival of Nations Brings Awareness to Diverse Cultures
Media by Shyam Punnachalil
Marquette is hosting its very first Festival of Nations event. This event primarily serves to bring awareness to other cultures that are present at school.
In an effort to bring more awareness to cultures at MHS, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee will host its very first Festival of Nations at Marquette.
Shelley Justin, language arts teacher, is helping the DEI committee to plan the event.
“This will be our first time hosting this event at Marquette, and it serves to get a lot of different cultures to share their traditions, especially from our immigrant families, to make everyone feel more connected,” Justin said.
Justin said it’s important to have this event because of the large immigrant population in the U.S.
“At these booths, groups will come together and show their culture, whether that be through cultural performances, home-made food or academic teachings about the culture itself,” Justin said.
Claireece Cross, senior, is currently the co-president of the DEI Committee.
“We do different things around the school like beautifying the school and making sure people feel included and welcome,” Cross said.
Justin introduced the idea of the festival to her in the beginning of the year, as a way to bring different communities and cultures together.
Cross said she had been interested in the idea of the festival and getting to see different cultures’ performances, food and potentially having community speakers.
This will be our first time hosting this event at Marquette, and it serves to get a lot of different cultures to share their traditions, especially from our immigrant families, to make everyone feel more connected.
— Shelley Justin
“I like bringing the forefront of cultures to different schools since I feel like there’s not enough of that,” Cross said.
Fellow president with Cross, Yana Dragnev, senior, said that she likes the idea of the festival, but is worried about finding students and volunteers who are willing to participate .
“A lot of kids are really focused on their extracurriculars or are just afraid of being embarrassed,” Dragnev said.
Dragnev said DEI is still working out how they will officially set up the event, but they already know that Partners in Education (PIE) will be helping.
To continue planning for the Festival of Nations, Dragnev said there will be a parent DEI meeting at 4:30 p.m. today in Room 288.
Also being Secretary of Media in STUCO, Dragnev said she hopes to find a way to include that club among others in the festival to have more manpower for setting up.
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