The Spartacus
More Cultures for the Multicultural Club Thursday, May 31, 2012 By Annie Perry
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It is apparent that our school is a melting pot of cultures from across the world, so why aren’t more of these cultures represented in the club intended especially for them? Mrs. Pearson, MCDS Spanish teacher and leader of the Multicultural club, and some of her most active members were willing to explore this question and examine the steps the Multicultural club might take to more fully represent its name. Ms. Pearson observes that, at the start of each year, more students do express an interest. However, she continues, “the ones that truly get involved in doing things and calling people for service are the Hispanics.” It seems when it is time to participate and showcase the Multicultural club to the MCDS community, most “non-Hispanic” students fade in the background. Pearson adds, “Seldom do you get a student or parents from out of that Hispanic group. I would love to have students from other countries participate. They all sign in and they all come to the meetings but when the time comes that you say ‘Hey we’re going to do a dance or something from your country,’ [They say] ‘No I don’t want to.’ But the kids from Colombia and Venezuela—they [often] say, ‘I’ll do it Pearson it doesn’t matter, I’ll do it.’” Since the Hispanic Heritage assembly is the Multicultural club’s first production at the start of every school year, she reaches out to the Hispanic members early on. After participating in this assembly and showcasing their culture, these students might become more active than others in planning the later Multicultural assembly and bake sale. Ms. Pearson contemplates and figures this participation could be a result of the close relationship she has with her Spanish speaker students in the club, who she sees regularly throughout the school year. She says, “Maybe it’s because I teach all the Native Speakers, we have to see.” The link between the Spanish speaking class and the club might intimidate other nationalities from participating. The president of the Multicultural club, Daniel Mendez, has emerged as a leader in the club and is also a student in the Spanish Native Speakers class. Tatianna Seikaly, another Hispanic in the Multicultural club, describes the atmosphere during Multicultural club meetings. “In some of the meetings, there are people who only speak in Spanish. I don’t have a problem with it but by doing this they are not going to attract students who aren’t from that nationality to join.” Although this might seem to exclude some members from the club, Mrs. Pearson points out that, while some Spanish members might have side conversations in Spanish, the business of the meetings are conducted exclusively in English. “It’s really going to come down to actually finding passionate members who want to get involved,” President Daniel Mendez shares. “I always give options and opportunities, but I guess some people are just very shy.” Daniel recognizes it is something he will work on changing “because after all, it’s the Multicultural club, not just the Latin American club.” One solution could be to reach out to new students, particularly the various student nationalities in the ESOL class. Although they certainly could have responded to the announcements to attend a meeting, no students in the ESOL class are currently members of the Multicultural club. Perhaps these students, sometimes new to the school, could use an extra bit of encouragement. “I didn’t know our school had a Multicultural club. If someone from there invited me, I would probably join” commented ESOL student Stella Strharova, who is Slovakian. Upon hearing the Multicultural club’s goal to diversify itself, Stella and other students in ESOL consider joining. With their participation, the club can certainly branch out to encompass new cultures. Mrs. Pearson reflects that, in the past, the assemblies showcased dances from France and Italy, and everywhere in the world, when “all kids wanted to participate and do that.” That is her goal for the club. If Mrs. Pearson reaches out to diverse students to help with the Hispanic assembly at the start of the year, they can become more confident in assisting the Multicultural-activities. With the participation of ESOL classmates in the organization’s assembly and bake sale, the club could present a variety of cultures. Then the Multicultural club can fully embody its name. |