Flags from around the globe adorned the walls of the gym on March 18, as the Global Empowerment & Outreach club (GEO) concluded its third annual Spring Week to celebrate the diversity on campus.

Offering students the opportunity to experience a variety of heritages, GEO held its Multicultural Assembly on March 18 and its Multicultural Carnival two days prior.

The assembly, with Julian Wise (12) and Tristan Killeen (11) as emcees, incorporated acts that transcended the barriers of language, including performances of Italian opera arias and Bollywood and K-pop dance routines.

In her second appearance at the Multicultural Assembly, Upper School math teacher Gabriele Stahl performed an improvised Argentinean Tango routine with dance partner Arthur Fraser.

“I’m not nervous when I present hyperbolas, but I am nervous when I dance,” Stahl said. “[Still,] students are so nice, so the experience is always positive. There are a lot of thumbs-up, ‘Well done Ms. Stahl,’ or ‘You can do this.’”

Kaavya Cherukuri (12), who performed a Bollywood dance routine with Swetha Repakula (12) and Arthi Kumar (12), participated in the assembly to make the most of senior year.

“This whole entire process [was memorable],” Kaavya said. “I really loved just having rehearsals and practices with my friends […] and we got to see each other’s different dance styles.”

As an audience member, Joseph Wang (10) reflected on the assembly: “I thought [the assembly] was amazing, especially how GEO included a wide variety of cultures,” he said. “[GEO] didn’t just limit their reach to only Chinese or only Indians.”

Featuring an array of booths sponsored by clubs, honor societies, faculty, and students, the carnival offered Italian Bocce Ball, Indian mehndi stations, and Chinese milk tea among other activities, cuisines, and music.
In addition, the Japan booth had origami paper not only for making paper cranes but also for writing words of support in light of the recent earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis that ravaged the Japanese nation.

“I was really glad to see so much student participation,” Sonia Gupta (10) said, after viewing the booths with friends. “I think it’s great that students care about their heritage and sharing it [with others].”

During the second half of the carnival, the Jazz Combo—a subset ensemble of the Jazz Band—performed pieces as a part of the American booth.

“I really liked how creative the booth hosts were with games and activities,” GEO president Saloni Gupta (12) said. “I think it’s a good way of following tradition from last year, but still having a lot of new events, such as the Jazz Combo performance, that we haven’t seen at the carnival [in previous years].”

Neda Ghaffarian (11), who has hosted the Iran booth for two years, enjoyed this year’s experience because she decided to make Iranian cuisine.

“I [arranged the Iran booth] myself, and, unlike last year, I actually made the dish this time—it was a lot different, because I was interested to see [student] reactions to the food, and several people came back for seconds,” Neda said.

For Dr. Shaun Jahshan, Chinese teacher and Mandarin National Honor Society advisor, each year’s carnival remains memorable: “All the tables were great and well-attended—[the carnival is] one of my favorite events, and I think [GEO] should do it twice a year.”