On the week of February 3-7, Irvington hosted its annual multicultural week. Multicultural week features events from different cultural clubs displaying different customs from around the world.
Cultural Clubs such as the Muslim Student Association (MSA), Vietnamese Student Association (VSA), MECHA, and Korean American Culture Club (KACC) hosted lunchtime events in collaboration with ASG. In order to help publicize events, ASG worked to create club spotlights and decorations. Jolene Cheung (10), an ICC committee member added that they created decorations in order to “create an environment where everyone could feel included.” This involved putting up flags and decorations to represent many different cultures and liven up Irvington’s atmosphere.
On Monday, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) hosted an event for World Hijab Day. MSA members brought hijabs and abayas to a booth in the courtyard to try on. “Our culture is influenced by our religion, which includes wearing modest clothing such as an abaya. It was heartwarming to see students at Irvington trying on something that may feel unfamiliar to them, yet unifying as an experience,” Hira Hasib (10) commented.
Following MSA, The Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) hosted a Lunar New Year event during lunch on Tuesday, handing out snacks to participants and hosting different traditional games for people to engage in. “We were celebrating Tet, or the traditional Vietnamese new year, and during the event we had che, which is a traditional dessert with fruit, jelly, and milk,” explained VSA Event Coordinator Maya Rao (10).
On Wednesday, MECHA hosted a Pinata Breaking Event, where students took turns hitting a Pinata and received candy as a reward. “We were celebrating latino culture, and embracing the different diversities by having fun together,” said Lexi Cortez (12), a MECHA officer.
On Thursday during lunch, Korean American Culture Club held an event at lunch to introduce Korean games and snacks. One station had students playing Ddakji, a game involving two different colored tiles, and another hosted a game called ‘Gong gi,’ which requires tossing and catching multiple stones.
On the final day of MultiCultural week, Chinese Culture Club hosted their annual Chinese New Year celebration event in the courtyard. Viewers were given common Chinese snacks and delighted in traditional performances like the lion dance, martial arts, and Chinese instruments and dance. The performances celebrated a major holiday called Chun Jie, or the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar. On the same day, students dressed up in cultural clothing like qipaos from China, kurtas from India, and abayas from the Middle East.
Multicultural week was a huge success, with fun and unique events that allowed clubs to showcase their culture. Students were exposed to traditions from different countries and experienced Irvington’s diverse student body and school spirit.
