From October 24 to 28, students of Luxembourg Campus joined the numerous activities lined up for International Week 2022, the occasion’s first physical observance in two years.
The event was also the first-ever student-led International Week initiative by the students of the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) strand alongside the SLGE Department. The event coordinators organized an activity booth fair, a mâché passport making task, and a special mufti day on national attires.
International Week is a celebration of diversity where students explore different cultures through informative and engaging activities. The energy of this year’s International Week has increased now that the students are able to take part in the activities face-to-face.
The efforts of the event coordinators and the participation of the student body promoted the theme of this year’s event: International Mindedness Towards An Inclusive Global Community.
On Monday, students had the opportunity to explore different activity booths stationed throughout the campus. In the aptly-called International Week Fair, these stalls featured a variety of games designed to promote engagement within the student body.
The main purpose of these booths, however, was not just to entertain or challenge their participants, but also to teach novel insights on international mindedness and global inclusivity.
“We want to have a wide demographic and everyone to participate as much as possible,” said 12-Diplomacy President Chino Respecia.
“So we thought that it would be a great idea to incorporate games into our booths so that it reaches a wide audience,” he added.
With booths like How many languages do you speak? and Slap The Flag on its Country, HUMSS students ensured that their fellow Monarchs had a myriad of educational games to choose from.
Tiffany Sawaki of 11-Efficiency, organizer of the How many languages do you speak? booth, said on behalf of her team that “In order to be more inclusive and to be more open-minded, we need to open ourselves to new vocabulary, new words, new languages to express ourselves differently.”
“I think that international inclusivity is very important, especially now that the internet and social media is a very prevalent thing,” President Respecia explained.
“Because, at the end of the day, no matter what culture [we come from] or ethnicity we are, we’re also human beings,” he further elaborated
When asked to share about his experience partaking in these activities, Philippe Castellvi of 11-Synergy said that “Participating in International [Week] activities was fun, especially for a new student like me. It helped me get a grasp of how the school celebrates and gives importance to it[s message].”
Through Tuesday until Friday, sections across all high school grade levels created mâché passports to celebrate cultural diversity, on which they were able to learn more about the different traditions, languages, places, activities, and symbols of the country they were assigned to. The 5Cs were put into practice as the students collaborated and explored their creativity in creating their passports. Each section then presented its individual mâché passports for everyone to see following International Week.
On Thursday, the atmosphere of International Week was further felt as the students wore national attires. Most of the students dressed in Filipino baro’t saya and Korean hanbok. Other students participated by donning the national colors of their assigned countries.
Celebrating International Week was not limited to students learning something new and engaging in activities, but also taking the opportunity to interact with others, especially for new Monarchs who have yet to experience the event.
“[International Week] is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to [get to] know each other very well. Other than the fact that it’s to spread awareness [of] culture and inclusivity, I think that is also a great way of batchmates or even strandmates bonding,” Sawaki remarked.
Nathan Dichupa of 11-Competence, another active participant, said that he “learned [about] more cultures and more traditions and even [the] food and more of the language[s] that were used in every country, so I was able to understand more [about] some countries around the world.”
Yoeiza Garcia of 11-Efficiency, organizer of the What’s the name? booth, said that despite being a new student, participating in the activities was a great experience.
As an international school, it is important that students celebrate, recognize, value, and promote diversity. This year’s International Week served as a reminder to students to be global-minded and inclusive through engaging and educational activities and interactions.
About the authors:
Marielle Arevalo lives to make things aesthetically pleasing. She loves traveling, reading, taking photos, and playing badminton and volleyball. Marielle hopes to inspire others through her visual and written works.
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