The celebration of cultural diversity has long been important to Safiya Hasan, so when it was time for the Lindbergh senior to choose a topic for her Girl Scout Gold Award, she knew right away that it was imperative to incorporate it somehow.
“I noticed from a young age that there wasn’t a lot of cultural understanding in the Lindbergh District,” Hasan said. “Part of that is just because it’s not as much of a racially and culturally diverse area, but there is a lot of representation at our school that I don’t think people realize is there. I really wanted to make that known and help people become more aware of what’s around them.”
Flash forward months and a lot of hard work later to Lindbergh High School’s first-ever International Week.
From Feb. 2 to Feb. 7, lunch at LHS was transformed, with each day covering a different topic. The week started with language presentations from Lindbergh students representing their cultural heritage.
“Monday was focused on language, having people present how to say things in their language and what the origins of their language are,” Hasan said. “We had, I think, almost 15 different languages represented. We had Vietnamese, we had Tagalog, we had three different Indian languages, we had Turkish, we had Kurdish – that was neat.”
Tuesday, students were encouraged to bring in cultural items – from mini sombreros to pottery – while Wednesday was designated for henna.
“Wednesday was our big hit day,” Hasan said. “We had three henna artists come in – two of them were Lindbergh High School students, and one of them was a LHS students’ mom who has her own henna business. We had lines almost out the door.”
Foods from around the world were brought in on Thursday, and Friday showcased Lindbergh’s existing affinity groups and language honor societies such as the Muslim Student Association, linguistics club, French Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society and Asian Pacific Islander coalition.
“I hope (the Lindbergh community) learned that there’s a lot of culture around them that they don’t necessarily realize is there. When you look at Lindbergh, it’s very easy to see kind of a monolith, but kind of hiding in the shadows is a lot of real diversity that I would love people to be able to recognize and accept and really come to love,” Hasan said. “It’s never too late to learn acceptance.”
Overall, the event was a success, with participation from students exceeding Hasan’s expectations.
“I loved seeing people that I didn’t know come and learn things and try food and get henna done,” Hasan said. “I know a lot of people at school, but there were a lot of people that showed up that I had never seen before (who) were really genuinely interested in what we had to share
Though Hasan will not be able to host another International Week next year as she is graduating in May, the torch has already been passed on, ensuring cultural education for future students.
