A new and exciting event was brought to Oakdale High School (OHS) this year: Multicultural Night. This purpose was to share the importance of diversity within our school and community.

The festival consisted of many different activities and visuals to teach and celebrate all different cultures. Students had volunteered to help represent their culture with many different hands-on activities for families and kids to do.

A few things that took place included performances by the Oakdale South Asian Dance Team, a performance by the BHES Double Dutch Team, food trucks, and many different presentations. Bethany Brown, one of our world language teachers at OHS, attended the multicultural night. She talked about the different arts and craftsmanship in Oaxaca, Mexico.

“It’s important to spread and show diversity within our school and community,” Brown stated. “It’s also important for students to learn about the background of their peers.”

“With being part of Oakdale’s South Asian Dance Team, I hope to share a bit of our culture through our dances and performances,” Aditi Bandyopadhyay, team captain of Oakdale’s South Asian Dance Team, shared.

With this being the first Multicultural Festival held at Oakdale, it definitely seemed like a big hit. Will OHS make this a tradition in the upcoming years?

“If we can, I would love to continue this event in upcoming years because there’s so many things you can continue learning about,” Brown says.

Oakdale is filled with students from a variety of religions, cultures, and beliefs. The purpose of this night is to honor them all and to show appreciation for their traditions.

“It’s important to raise awareness to these cultures because we can express ourselves and our communities in many different ways that people should learn more about.” Bandyopadhyay stated.

Overall, this year’s multicultural festival was a big success and is a tradition that should be continued for the years to come at OHS.