The step team performing. Photo by Neden Bernadin.
Malden High’s Multicultural Club had yet another successful turnout last Friday for their annual celebration. Many of the students and school faculty members were invited eat dishes from different backgrounds and vote for the students of the first and second place prize. Other festivities included henna painting and performances from the Cypher Crew and the Step team.
The first place prize which consisted of a hundred and fifty dollars in cash went to Junior Laura Masseau for her dish of Macaroni Au Gratin and the second place prize went to Audrey Goon for her sticky rice dish and received seventy five dollars.
Since this is her first year, Masseau thought that participating in this year’s celebration would be a great way to embrace and sharing the Haitian culture. She went to described her Macaroni dish which is a combination of “ pasta, cheese, evaporated milk, ground turkey, onions, peppers, hot sauce” etc. Knowing that there is a huge population of Haitian students that go to Malden High, she also believes that it is likely that most of them aren’t aware of most of the traditional dishes within the culture.
Senior Andrea Martinez Merino has been a member of the Multicultural Club since Junior year. One thing that she is specifically excited about upon these events is “ the food and clubs” because she likes “ seeing people bonding over foods [ in which it] reminds them of their childhoods or their homes , and [ the] clubs always come up with really fun activities that everyone enjoys”.
The part that she believes is the most difficult during the preparation process of the event is “ always getting everyone involved” and “ calling the restaurants and confirming their contributions since they expect several follow up calls in the upcoming weeks” for their participation.
The fact that they “ are able to celebrate such a large spectrum of cultures” is a awesome aspect for Merino because their goal is “ to welcome people into our community and celebrate their cultures with them.”
Senior and club member Samrawit Eshetu added that another issue that occurred was during the week prior to the celebration, when they were advertising the tickets during lunch she recalled that not many students “ had money on them to buy it at the spot”. But to their surprise, many of them brought tickets at the door. With regards to the diversity aspect, she thinks that the celebration definitely helped with showcasing the heritage and culture.
Senior Kelly Weng was especially happy about the outcome because she witnessed a lot of people having fun and felt that the performances were very “ energetic”
Mayor Gary Christenson was one of the attendees during the night and not only was he thrilled about trying the food, but also “ learning about the different cultures “ to which he believes “ is the benefit of being in Malden”. He added that the importance of the celebration is like “ the purpose of life is to share each other’s culture and grow from it “ in result of a “ better world”.
