Grade 11 student Alana Santos poses with Los Tres Golpes, a traditional breakfast from the Dominican Republic, during Medicine Hat High School's annual culture fair on Thursday.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Students at Medicine Hat High School celebrated their diversity, representing more than 40 languages and cultures during the school’s annual cultural fair Thursday.
The student-organized event allows international students to proudly showcase their roots with the goal to foster a sense of pride and community at the school.
Students made displays and were encouraged to wear traditional clothing to school. However the highlight of the event is the variety of flavourful foods available for sampling. Student organizers say food brings people together and allows students to enjoy the opportunity to share traditions and experiences.
“Some of them are spicy, some of them are sweet, there’s really something for everyone here. I love how the home cooking adds a sentimental, sweet touch,” said Fatema Riaz, Grade 12 student co-organizer. “I would say the attitude here is very welcoming and it’s all about community. It’s grown every year, because when people see other people show off their cultures they feel more empowered to talk about their own.”
The student-led event began four years ago as a noon-hour event and has grown into an all-day festival that includes singing, dancing, live performances and a fashion show.
“It’s really cool to get everybody in together and celebrate Hat High’s diversity, as well as your individual culture,” said Chudier Ruach, Grade 12 student co-organizer. “Its very heartwarming for everybody.”
Heartwarming and stomach filling. Student participants are challenged to a cultural rice cook-off that is judged by staff, and are also encouraged to bring in samples of foods from their home countries for other students to sample, potluck style.
“I’m serving mangu and it’s also called Los Tres Golpes, which means three hits,” says Alana Santos, who moved to Canada from the Dominican Republic in 2023. “Because it has the mangu and then the three things to go with, that’s cheese, that can be either fried or just by itself, then salami and then eggs.”
Grade 12 student Rie Oikawa celebrated her Japanese culture by treating students to a variety of rice bowls with various flavours, as well as takoyaki, a savoury and sweet street food from Japan.
“It’s a really famous street food in Japan, it’s also savoury and sweet,” said Oikawa. “I think it’s a really great opportunity to have a culture fair and share our culture and then learn from others. I think this makes a peaceful world and understanding between each other.”
Along with the dozens of cultures represented by Canadian students and students who have lived in Canada for most of their lives, the cultural fair also highlighted the cultures of students who recently moved to the country and are participating in ELS programs.
This year the cultural fair included the addition of the ESL Village, which allows students to share their immigration stories with their peers and reconnect with their home culture.
ESL and social studies teacher Sara Jans says the initiative helps new students feel seen and valued in the school community and builds a sense of belonging, as well as pride, in their cultural backgrounds.
“This is a really good opportunity to feel seen within the school community because they aren’t necessarily coming with the same school experience as every other student in our school,” explains Jans about the pathway many immigrants take to arrive in Canada.
“So they might have had no school, or they had interrupted schooling, so they’re coming with a different skill set and a different whole world experience than our Canadian students have. So this is a real way for them to feel seen in our school.”
The school’s ELS programs include more than 100 students that represent 15 countries and speak 43 languages.
