Culture is what makes the BFMS community unique. The school is full of so many different people from different cultures;the only problem is that most students are unaware of these differences. Therefore, the International Club at BF recently started to help students become more conscious of this matter.
When walking around the cafeteria in any school students may have reactions to the food their friends bring in. Whether it is “your food smells weird” or “that looks gross” it is all caused by the roots of ignorance of cultural differences. Due to cultural differences, many students can begin to feel insecure and can become scared to open up to others. Although many schools have started to open up opportunities for students to explore new cultures, many still haven’t. With this potential limitation of understanding new cultures, there is much division in the school community when there should be unity. In order to prevent the BFMS school community from becoming divided and less understanding of others, the school has created a vast variation of clubs and has included an important one which is the International Club.
International Club is a club where activities are done based on learnings of different cultures. As different holidays come up for different cultures, the club takes a deep dive into what kinds of foods and celebrations occur. The language teachers at BF are in charge of this club and talked a bit about bringing cultural awareness to the school. Here there will be a clearer explanation of the ways the club helps students.
Bringing many different cultures to the school increases cultural awareness which is a top priority for the Spanish teacher, Señora Paulino. During an interview with her, we learned there are many goals that she hopes to see within the student population. For Señora Paulino, observing students who participate in the international club versus having little to no interaction with other cultures is a big difference.
When asked about this, Señora Paulino said, “I also observe that students are more sensitive to other people’s values, traditions and they are understanding and have a better understanding that our differences don’t set us apart but the differences bring us together and make us unique.” The importance is that having more interactions with other cultures has a positive impact on the mind of a student and their overall attitude toward others.
Additionally, BF’s Latin teacher, Magistra Scheckel, who has been working at BFMS for the past three years, has observed the students in the International Club and says, “Well, the students are really open-minded and ready to try anything. But what I like is that they didn’t all know each other, and now they all come to the club every time, and so they’ve become friends with each other. So that’s a nice difference that I’ve seen.”
Additionally, when Sra. Paulino was asked about what motivated her to start the club, she mentioned her main goals were to, “Increase cultural awareness and empathy and tolerance and respect and understanding other peoples traditions and values and cultures.” The goal is so important for the school since bringing this awareness to students will help them realize what they don’t know and the things that they need to start learning a bit more about. Sra. Paulino believed that the main purpose of this club is to, “Foster and promote the understanding and appreciation of other cultures. And to celebrate and promote diversity and mutual respect among other students.” Since bringing out the best in students is in the best interest of all teachers it is important to realize a good foundation for that achievement is to make all the students aware of the world around them.
Similarly, Magistra Scheckel mentioned her purpose for running this club which started her personal story which is as follows, “I was a teacher a long time ago, and then I started working at a university with international students, and I worked with international students for almost 15 years, and I met people from all over the world, and I did a lot of programs where they shared their culture. Like some of the Asian students during Lunar New Year made dumplings. And there were students from Austria who taught us how to waltz and how to yodel. And, you know, lots of students shared their food, their holidays, their music, and games. And so I just started to get really interested in that myself, because I met people in that job from all over the world, like Afghanistan, some countries in Africa that I had never met anyone from. So it really enriched me as a person, and I think it made me more sensitive to people’s differences. And so I want to share some of that experience because here in Ridgewood, we have people that have a lot of different heritages, and I think we’re very open-minded here, but still, people don’t necessarily know, really, about other people’s cultures.”
Similarly, Magistra, has similar goals for the students who take international clubs, especially for those in the BFMS community. Magistra defines culture as “days, customs, acceptable behavior, art, music, all of these things that are related to a group, usually a group of people who live together.” Some students with very rich cultures are embarrassed to share, fearing that others might judge them and think they are odd. This is the main thing that the teachers running the club are aware of.
Overall, being knowledgeable and involved in cultural activities is what makes the BFMS community more inclusive and friendly. Knowing this is the first step to creating a more inclusive community but having knowledge is the ultimate honor. Students are able to open up their thoughts and opinions on different cultures. Students are not the only ones who are able to learn about different cultures and open up their thoughts, teachers are also excited to see their students grow and unite with each other. That’s why joining new clubs and being open to others is what really makes this community as rich as it can be.
