With a community as diverse and unique as LFA, it is important to have time to honor the inclusivity of the school. Having been put off for two years due to COVID-19, Multicultural Celebration Day/International Fair was worth the wait. this year. Different clubs, cultures, and affinity groups were able to interact and teach the LFA community their traditions and heritage through classes, the international fair, and a keynote session with poets Ummi Modeste and Amaryllis Lopez.

 The day opened with a keynote session where students were able to reflect on their identities by creating affirmations about themselves. The purpose of the activity was to help students feel welcomed and generate a sense of belonging. The Modern & Classical Languages Department Chair, Valerie Sorenson expanded on the importance of this day to our community, “Concepts like belonging are something we consider heavily at LFA. It is not enough just to have diversity, but to bring everyone together to celebrate and recognize all of the aspects of our cultures and identities is important as well.” said Sorenson. Representing 15 states and 35 countries, LFA makes it a point for us to feel like we belong and celebrating our diversity on days such as Multicultural Day stands to be very important to our community. 

 “My favorite aspect of this day is that it’s student driven. It appeals to me personally because it’s a chance for me to talk about ourselves and our cultures” concluded Sorenson. 

The Multicultural Prefects, Diana Borland ‘22, Steven Sun ‘22 and Ezzat Suhaime ‘22, played a substantial role in planning the day, and they put a large emphasis on the student-led portions of the day. 

Multicultural Perfect Steven Sun said, “we wanted to give students the chance to spread their identity… so students can learn more about each culture and respect them.” 

The prefects were concerned that the amount of students looking to participate in teaching their own class would not be enough to fill the student lead period. 

Multicultural Prefect Diana Borland said, “We had to start talking to a lot of students… we were worried that we would run short of student teachers which would be bad because we wanted it to be completely student run” 

The active presence of the prefects was eventually effective in leading a large group of students participating as teachers and sharing their cultures. 

However, both Steven and Diana expressed that their  goals for the future were increased student participation. 

Diana also shared that she wants to expand the day, saying, “It is important to celebrate everyone who is here and we need to have more in the future, it should not just be one day.”