On February 23, our school was presented with an assembly all about diversity in Middletown and throughout the United States. During the assembly, we heard from a few teachers and students, saw a few videos, and got to see the dance team perform different types of dances that are performed in different countries world wide.
At the beginning of the presentation, French teacher, Ms. Viera talked about diversity and gave us a background on what we were going to be seeing during the assembly. She then talked a little about her time spent in France and presented a video on the “Do’s and Don’t’s” that one should know when they are abroad.
In the video, there were many things that as Americans we found odd and unusual. One example is in Bulgaria, when you shake your head up and down that means “no” and shaking your head side to side means “yes.”
When the video ended, she then introduced math teacher Mr. Young, who talked about his background and the hardships he went through growing up being Hispanic. Since his mother was born in Guatemala, he inherited many traits that brought out his Hispanic side. When he went to interviews, they sometimes did not realize he was who they were looking for because his Caucasian name, Hank, did not match his Hispanic looks.
As he got older and continued to move on through life, things such as that continued, but he tried to just blow it off. One thing that really stood out to him in his life was when he had seven yards of mulch delivered to his house. When speaking to his neighbor who said to go to Red Bank and gets some Mexicans, Mr. Young decided to tease him by saying, “And how will I know which ones are Mexican?”
At the end of his presentation, he gave everyone the lesson that they should not judge a person by their looks and race because they are no different than everyone else. Following him, Mrs. T. Mahoney introduced the dance team, who performed a hip hop dance.
Following the dance, Mrs. McGowan was introduced to the stage where she started her presentation with a video about her time she spent teaching in Japan, which contained photos and a mini story about her time there.
In 2001, she left for Japan where she was going to teach an English class to 70 college students. When she started te
aching, before she entered the classroom she was asked to remove her shoes and leave them outside with the rest of the shoes of the students.
Aside from the teaching aspect of her time in Japan, she got to travel around the country and see how their culture really was. Even though Japan is a part of Asia, it is more westernized and does not contain many of the same cultural aspects. In Japan, it is not unusual to see a woman in traditional attire, but it is also not unusual to see a woman in super high heels and the latest fashion trends.
There are also many cultural differences between Japan and America. For instance, while she was teaching there, one of her students told her that he had left $2000 and his wallet in the bathroom. As he got ready to board his train he realized he had forgotten them. After going back and not finding them in the bathroom, he went to the lost and found to find it all there. She was kind of shocked that even though the train is a busy place and so many people go through, that the wallet and money was all safely retrieved.
As her presentation came to a conclusion, she gave us all a few tips about what to do if you are ever there and gave one tip of advice, “If you are going to spend the day with a Japanese person, plan the whole day with them.”
After she exited the stage, senior Christy Fox, was introduced to the stage where she performed a fun tradition from her Irish culture, step dancing. A dance that is not very easy to learn or perform for many, she was able to blow the audience away.
Following Fox, we heard two poems, “A Litany of Restoration” by Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley, recited by Chloe Mullen-Wilson and “Bilingual/Bilingue” by Rhina Espaillat recited by Eva Figueroa. Both poems represented appreciating others for who they are.
The assembly ended off with a performance by the dance team who performed “He Lives in You” from Disney’s Lion King 2, which was a tribal dance that showed emotion and feeling.
The assembly as a whole was very interesting and enjoyable to hear about personal experiences some got with seeing this and even being involved with it. Many students at North may not realize it now, but our student body as a whole is very diverse and possess many different racial backgrounds and cultural differences.