Stuyvesant Hosts Second Annual Multicultural Event

In the heart of New York City, Stuyvesant brings together students from all five boroughs into a community shaped by various cultures and backgrounds. Stuyvesant’s Parents Association hosted its second annual multicultural fair, assembling more than 200 parents, students, and staff on November 8. The event was held in the cafeteria and filled the Saturday afternoon with shared food, dance lessons, and games with the goal of experiencing the diverse cultures at Stuyvesant.

This event was founded last year by the Parents’ Association Co-Presidents Karin Sloane and Casandra Chew. When creating this event, Ms. Sloane and Ms. Chew hoped to unite the Stuyvesant community, especially parents, by celebrating Stuyvesant’s cultural diversity. “While, on one hand, the Multicultural Event was about learning and celebrating our various cultures and heritages, it was also very much about finding and highlighting our common ground. For the parents, it was an opportunity to strengthen our bonds over our shared love for our children, respect for each other, and commitment to working together to provide the best possible education for our children (and all children), in and out of the classroom,” Ms. Sloane said.

The Parents’ Association Outreach Committee ensured the event was open to anyone who wished to attend and share a part of their culture. “Our outreach groups are Chinese, Japanese, mosaic, which is a whole bunch of different cultures, including Caribbean, Korean, Jewish, and Indian, and then we had all of those foods. When we invited all of the families at Stuy, we invited people to bring food as well,” Ms. Sloane said.

While the event featured a variety of foods, attendees also had opportunities to showcase their culture through performances and activities. Participants had the option to sign up for a demonstration in advance or perform spontaneously during the event. “We had a Kung Fu and sword dance, a traditional Chinese dance, a Jewish Hora dance, Korean drums, a Latin music guitar player, Korean Taekwondo, and Indian dancing. There was also an origami booth, a Japanese fishing game, and Chinese calligraphy. It was really heartfelt. I think everyone really enjoyed presenting their own culture and having the opportunity to learn about other cultures,” Ms. Sloane said.

Although the event was primarily intended for Stuyvesant’s parent community, many others attended in support. “90 percent [were] parents. We also had Ms. [Dina] Ingram, Ms. Natalie Tang, Ms. Shania O’Neill and Mr. [Angel] Colon. He stayed the whole time and Miss [Janelle] Wilson dove in, [...] and Miss [Rosanny] Genao snuck in and brought a cake,” Ms. Sloane said.

Student-led cultural clubs also participated in the event. The Chinese Culture Club held activities such as calligraphy and spoke with attendees about the club’s mission. “We gave them a lot of calligraphy; we took requests from the faculty and some of the parents. For example, there was one parent who came and requested a message for her 28th anniversary in calligraphy,” senior and Chinese Culture Club member Galvin Chen said. “Other than that, we just had fun, ate food, and talked to just a bunch of people while going over our club activities.” 

The Jewish Student Union (JSU) participated in the fair as well, leading attendees in the Jewish hora and offering homemade dishes. “We shared Jewish culture with food, and then we had a Jewish dance with all the other cultures participating. Everybody got to try different cultural cuisines and participate in the dances,” junior and JSU President Jonathan Tetry said. 

Stuyvesant’s Armenian Club brought art, games, and food for guests to enjoy. “At the multicultural event, we brought lots of Armenian-style tapestries and ornaments to set up. We served two types of food (gata and cheese boreg) and we [introduced] all the attendees to [two] popular games in Armenia,” junior and Armenian Club President Alexander Ordukhanyan said. “The first game we introduced the attendees to was nardi (in English it is called backgammon).” 

Although this was only the Multicultural Fair’s second year, there were only minor logistical issues thanks to strong coordination between the event organizers and performers. “It was a lot easier than last time, because the first year was the first time it was held,” senior and Chinese Culture Club President Benjamin Huang said. “I didn't feel there were too many complications. I think the coordination we had with the Chinese Outreach Association was great [because] they helped us last year, too.”

Compared to last year’s multicultural event, this year’s celebration saw stronger turnout. “The structure of it stayed the same. It was bigger and better, so we had more people come. We had more variety of food. I was happy that more parents took us up on the idea that they could just bring something,” Ms. Sloane said.

Although this year’s event was a step up from last year, the Parents Association hopes to improve the event even more for next year. “We had about 200 people come, and I would love for even more people to come. Everyone was so happy that they came. [...] I hope we can just advertise for it even more. Maybe we can start earlier, so that we can have even more people come and enjoy,” Ms. Sloane said.

One of the central goals of the event was to emphasize the value of both preserving and exchanging cultures. “People are very interested in how our culture is doing or how we’re helping preserve it or promote it,” Huang said. “I speak to all the parents there and even the people who are not Chinese; we make an effort to talk to include people who are not Chinese in our club as well.”

Stuyvesant’s unique identity of bringing an especially diverse community together is a key part of the school. “We had representatives from countries throughout almost every region of the world, and all of these people were proud of their culture and were sharing it with their classmates,” Ordukhanyan said. “This is a key part of Stuyvesant’s identity. It is the main thing that sets a school like ours apart from almost every other school in the United States.”

Since this is both Ms. Sloane and Ms. Chew’s last year in the Parents Association, they are confident that Stuyvesant’s multicultural event will continue to grow. “We hope that we can continue this tradition and build on it, and, like everything else, [...] we hope people can keep adding to it,” Ms. Sloane said.