On October 21st and 22nd Mrs. Terry Kenney’s second block Sociology class held their culture festival in Oakdale’s B200 classroom. Kenney has been holding the festival in different forms each semester for about thirteen or fourteen years, with a different festival for each block. There is only one Sociology class this semester, meaning that, unlike other semesters, there was only one festival

Rae Brewer, a senior, spoke about what the student involvement in the Culture Festival was: “The culture festival was a celebration that our block 2 Sociology class put on to present the countries we learned and researched about!”

They then added, “Students brought in flags, food, drinks, and gave presentations that were stationed around the room.”

Each student in Kenney’s Sociology class is required to choose a different country. They research this country’s culture and create a project board to display the information they’ve learned. Students also have to bring in an artifact related to their country. Artifacts can range from the country’s flag to food items.

Kenney spoke of two major factors of the Culture Festival that make it important: “It is an important life skill to learn about other cultures, because knowing what is socially acceptable when travelling to other countries is important to respect the people from other cultures.”

“It is even more valuable for students to do projects in a different format where students have to answer questions from their teachers and their peers. Both answering questions that you know a lot about, and knowing how to react when you are asked a question you don’t know a lot about are very important skills in life,” Kenney also added.

Caroline Wehinger, a junior, is another student who participated in the first semester Culture Festival. She also talked about the importance of holding a Culture Festival, “It educates people on different countries and cultures which can benefit them in the short and long term and also can help them better understand the world around them.”

Wehinger also discussed why she chose to do her project on the country that she did, stating, “I chose my country (Great Britain) because my grandma and great grandma had lived in England and also my family has Welsh ancestry so I wanted to represent my family.”

The Culture Festival provides students a way to learn about new countries, inform students more about their own cultures, or even learn more about where their families are from.

Due to Covid-19 the festival was not held during the 2020-2021 school and this school year’s festival had to be modified to fit Frederick County’s Covid guidelines for schools. 

Any food products that students brought in for their artifacts had to be individually wrapped and students could not eat inside B200. Food distributed to students was required to be able to last until students could try the samples during their lunch blocks.

Another restriction is that only one visiting class from OHS could be in B200 at one time and the classes were under a strict time limit, but Kenney’s second block Sociology did not let the restrictions stop them.

The Culture Festival provides students in Sociology classes and throughout OHS a chance to learn more about the world around them and see more of what their peers are passionate about.