This past week, Pleasant Valley hosted Multicultural Week. Multicultural Week has many cultures which parade around with lots of different varieties of food, flavors, and excitement. Games were held, along with music and dancing. All sorts of cultural activities took place, including religious dances. Senora Topete even made homemade churros. People waited in line for more than 40 minutes for the warm and gooey churros. At the end of the lunch period, many people were left sad and hungry without a churro.
Some students wanted to represent their culture, not just for the cultural festival, but for the whole day. One student in particular, named Cleo Regh, wore a beautifully cultivated dress. Full of bright and happy colors. She says, “I dressed up in a bright orange dress with a white skirt underneath and the top comes from a village in Mexico.” “There was also a part on the side that has a special meaning, it means you are single, when you marry you may change it.” Her culture is a mixture of European and Mexican. She also said her favorite part of cultural week was, “seeing and listening to people share their culture’s story.”
Tylee Davis, an attendee of the festival says it was fun and, “I would go again, I would have been there the whole day if I had time, it was so cute.” Daleen Bdour says, “I liked that each culture had its own type of food, I would definitely go again next year.” Along with music and dancing, the food stood out. Some food included Thai, Filipino, and Mexican food. I tried something very interesting, it was called Ube. Ube is a type of purple sweet potato. It has a chewy sticky texture and is dark purple. I also tried Senoras Topete’s homemade churros. They were my favorite part of the entire festival, super warm and chewy with just the right amount of cinnamon flavor.
If you can make it next year, try to come and bring your culture with you to the Multicultural Festival!
As the flowers continue to bloom and grow, we ourselves as humans grow and bloom. As we grow and change, we all learn how to be better people. More fresh some may say. As a collective Viking Community, we all try our hardest to make our school environment the best it can be. Though our school already is a fantastic place for education, community, sports,activities, and more, there is still room for growth. One way we can make our school flourish is by simply being kind.
Acts of kindness can go a long way. Whether you help someone out with their schoolwork, sit with someone who is alone, or even just sharing some kind words with someone, you can genuinely change a life and help another bud grow. Though it sounds simple, you would be surprised how some people can be “weeds”. Even if you have a sunny experience at our school, there are probably a few people having a hard time reaching that sunlight, and you can even be one of the people blocking their sun. It is easy to hurt someone’s feelings without even thinking. What may be a funny and lighthearted joke to you could deeply offend and hurt another. Before you act on a joke, prank, or comment, take a moment to consider what you are really doing and saying. Think to yourself, “Will the person I am about to make the subject of a joke find this funny?” or, “Is this humiliating to everyone but me?”. Simply stopping yourself to think can make someone else feel more included in our school’s garden of students.
Another reason to be a kind person is that your actions also affect those around you. One rude joke or comment can lead to people seeing you as a mean person. This can make your friends be seen in a negative light as well. Nobody wants to be involved with a bad seed. People will think, “Why would they hang out with someone who hurts others?” Being a good person also means being a good friend, so always think about how your actions may not just hurt one person, but even your loved ones.
General kindness goes a long way. We all make mistakes and continue to grow as humans daily. Before you do anything, always ask yourself if you are making a person’s day better or worse. Live life like a true Viking and sprinkle some kindness onto everyone around you. You never know whose life you will change.