The commons filled with music and crowded with activities as Culture Club put on their first Multicultural Week, an event that has been planned since the start of the school year. The week took place on Feb. 18 through Feb. 22, though it was cut short on the Wednesday due to a district wide snow day. The club set up tables in the commons, each table represented by a culture of the student running the table.

Senior Yarelly Laguna came up with this idea and spoke about why she decided to organize this. “I got inspired to do this because I know Hickman and Rock Bridge does it, and I thought to myself ‘why doesn’t Battle have this?” said Laguna. “We have a big diversity group at Battle and I wanted to share that to the school and wanted other students to learn about their peers’ cultures.”

Teacher and Culture Club sponsor Nikki Aguero explained the process on the envisioned first Multicultural Week. Aguero said, “We did so many things, we contacted MU kaleidoscope group and international student center to see if we could incorporate community members. We also met with Rock Bridge teachers to see if we could exchange artifacts and garments and several more things.”

Senior Vanessa Ramirez was a student representative at the Mexican tables on Tuesday and Thursday. She described the things she displayed at the table. “On Tuesday, I brought flan which is a Mexican dessert. On the same day I also put on a Mexican traditional skirt. And on Thursday, we played music during all lunch shifts and practiced Mexican dances. It was a fun time.”

Culture Club meets the first Thursday of every month. Usually they share food and share students’ cultures. Once they had the plan to start Multicultural Week, they began to have meetings every other week to prepare.

Aguero explained the message behind the event, specifically why students wanted to share their cultures. “I would like for it to be an event where students really are able to come together and see what we’re trying to portray. We want to celebrate diversity at our school and recognize that we are all different yet we are all the same and we can come to a place where we can accept one another,” said Aguero. “I think it would make us a stronger student body and make us better human beings and go out in the community and spread that love.”

Ramirez joined Culture Club this year, however, contributed to every meeting and event. She hopes that “multicultural club grows and that next year it is bigger and better, and I just wish the best of them.”

Culture Club represents the richness of diversity including Cuba, Uganda, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Brazil, India, South Africa, and others. By representing the different cultures at the school, it shows the richness of diversity displayed and being known.