“I want to show how diverse our school is and can be,” senior Ashley Okereke said.
Okereke is the MHS student who thought of holding an International Festival Week which will be held every day during the week of May 16, 2011. Ms. Monicuse is the sponsor for this event.
Okereke originally thought of having an African day to celebrate her Nigerian heritage. Ashley was born in America, but is a Nigerian of the Igbo tribe.
“At first it was African Day. Then I thought I’d give credit to other cultures as well,” Okereke said, “No one culture is dominant over the other.”
Many events are planned for International Festival Week.
Each day, students should try to cooperate and try to wear something for the culture represented that day, says Okereke.
European, South American, African, Middle Eastern, and Asian culture will be celebrated during International Festival Week.
Videos pertaining to each day’s culture will be shown in the library, says Okereke.
Students can also represent their culture during lunch in the cafeteria. Okereke will be performing, as well as several other students.
” I hope to have fun and inform people of each culture and the diversity of each student that goes to our school,” Okereke said.
Okereke admits she is not completely sure how the week will turn out.
“I hope that students will cooperate and appreciate the representation of the week,” Okereke said.
Okereke also hopes that International Festival Week will cancel out all stereotypes and other bad attributes of a culture.
“I’m a proud person of my culture and I feel that each person should be as proud their culture, how they were raised, and where they are from,” Okereke said.