Fox Meadow Hosts Multicultural Fair

The Fox Meadow gym was teeming with happy kids and parents for an international celebration at the Fox Meadow Multicultural Fair on Wednesday afternoon January 13. Event chairs were surprised to find that the 200 passports they created disappeared in a flash – with attendance even higher than expected. Parents estimate that about a third of the school's population hails from other countries, providing a diverse mix in the school's classrooms.

At the fair, representatives from eighteen countries dressed in native costumes, served tasty treats from their homelands, taught customs and invited students to do crafts. Mayra Rodriguez, who manned the table from Mexico, noted that all the table organizers from the countries that exhibited were either immigrants or first generation Americans.

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We found Prince William and Princess Kate serving tea and crumpets, Japanese women teaching origami, a chocolate fountain from Ecuador, empanadas from Argentina, delicious spinach and onion crepes called "pita" from Albania, Russians serving tea from a samovar and Indian moms showing kids how to say Namaste.

To kick off the event, earlier in the day students marveled at a Chinese face changing performer and swayed to the rhythms of a Dominican Republic dancing troupe. Mayra Rodriguez from the Multicultural committee said, "The Fox Meadow Multicultural Fair is a wonderful opportunity to expose Fox Meadow students to the numerous cultures, languages and cuisines of their own peers."

Commenting on the event, Lizi Xie of China said, "The multicultural fair made my fourth-grade daughter very excited. In just one hour she got the opportunity to know eighteen countries' food, crafts, costumes, music and much more. Writing her name in Egyptian, making a bracelet with South African beads, a spoon of chocolate from Ecudaor, a taste of Albanian traditional food, are so very exotic and precious experience for her! Kids learned and got inspired. And thank you the beautiful ladies Mayra, Nosipho, Mariko, Junko who made all this possible."

Committee member Junko Miyoshi of Japan said, "Through the fair, I hope children learned and felt that how comfortable they are in the diverse culture. As a committee member, I would like to share the importance of respect in today's chaotic world."

Nosipho Kweta one of the co-chair representing South Africa said, "Fox Meadow is a diverse community that embraces different cultures and through the multicultural fair kids get to learn about those cultures. It teaches them to be proud of who they are regardless of where they come from. That's what I love about being part of this committee."

Mario Takeda from Japan said, "Thank you for coming to the fair. I hope you felt the energy of young children and their parents towards learning something new. While there are many great things about Fox Meadow School, one thing, in my personal opinion, that makes this school so special is that families with multicultural diversities and non-international families all share the strong sense of mission and become united to dedicate to children's learning. This fair was just another opportunity that I appreciated such enthusiasm. "

Table organizers:

Country Organizers
Albania: Maria Grishaj
Argentina: Paula Bercun, Veronica Olivieri
Brazil: Mariana Albuquerque, Vanessa Chadovsky, & Sheila Melo
China:  Lili Chen, Lixia Feng, Amy Sheng, Julie Tang, Lizzie Xie, Emily Zhang, Julie Zhu
Cuba:  Martha Duval
Ecuador: Silvana Caccio, Cristina Moscoso
Egypt: Rokaya Hassaballa
France: Nathalie Nguyen
Germany: Cornelia Beyer, Shirly Friedman, Claudia Schwartz
India: Moumita Datta Gupta, Sushma Shadaksharappa, Srilakshmi Vallabhaneni
Israel: Sarah Smith & Ziva Green
Japan: Yuko Kuriyama, Junko Miyoshi, Yu Nakamoto, Misa Ono, Emiko Osada, Ryoko Ozaki, Mariko Takeda , Sachiyo Uchino
Korea: Jane Chwe, Regina Han Jansky, Serina Lee, Sophia Park Mullen, Jenny Ryu, Mia Cha
Mexico: Brice & Mayra Kirkendall-Rodriguez
The Netherlands: Janske & Pietr Aartsbekker
Russia: Anna Demina, Rebecca Gabin, & Yelena Landa
South Africa: Melanie FitzGibbon, Nosipho Kweta
United Kingdom: Sandeep Lally, Catherine Parkinson

Dominican Republic Dancers Donation from Sandra Alfonso