Nathan Jeffers/photos
Pictured (from left) are Emily Stanley getting a tattoo painting on her wrist by Destiny Divers. This was just one of the many activities during Wahama Junior Senior High school annual Multicultural Day.
Pictured (from left) are Olivia Hill, Jesse Hesson, and Logan Bissell, as part of the display on France at Wahama’s Mulitcultural Day.
MASON — In a society that is driven by the newest technology, it can be distracting for students when it comes to learning about other countries and the people who inhabit them.
The students at Wahama Junior/Senior High School have been working to educate themselves and their classmates on how other countries function and what people do for fun during their annual Multicultural Day.
According to Social Studies teacher Catherine Hamm, this is the fourth year Wahama has held the event and it has quickly become a favorite among the students. Hamm went on to say the Social Studies department decided to take things up a notch with this year’s events, having more displays that are interactive and in-depth, as well as encouraging individual teachers to do more activities in their classrooms. Hamm stated this year’s activities cover everything from various African games, a speaker from Japan, and an Aborigine cave and Kenyan Tree, to traditional and informative PowerPoint presentations.
“The important thing is to bring the world to our students,” Hamm said. “We’ve found that even though they live in a digital world, many do not have an understanding of other cultures. Some may even have preconceived ideas about how people live in other parts of the world. We love the chance to show not only different cultures, but how similar people are all over the world.”
In addition to the teachers doing more interactive projects, the students did as well. Hamm stated that due to other schoolwork, students didn’t have much time to work to their multicultural projects at school; they would have to do it at home. According to Hamm, the results of this so called “problem” of not enough time turned out to be an advantage.
“Their results were incredibly creative and filled with more information then we could have covered during class,” Hamm stated. “While watching them put their projects together, I was amazed at how organized they were, and how well they worked as a team. They were truly responsible for their learning and problem solving.”
Another aspect of Multicultural Day that is new this year is every student was given a card which will keep track of the students participation in the interactive projects. At the end of the day, the cards will be placed in a drawing for various prizes included Wal-Mart gift cards, and the grand prize of dinner and a movie.
Hamm stated the various country represented included Mexico, China, Japan, England, France, Ireland, Germany, Haiti, Kenya, and Australia. In addition to Hamm, the other social studies teachers at Wahama are Jessica Snider, Adrian Rutherford, and Drema Greenlee.
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