This year marks the advent of the tradition at Westlake High School for the annual Multi-Cultural Day. During this event, students are able to celebrate their cultural differences with their fellow classmates. The mission of this day is to expose students to different cultures and traditions to celebrate and learn more about their classmates' diversity. 

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Earth Science teacher, Mrs. Sklar even states, “this is a new, fun tradition that is educational, delicious, and a great start to the Memorial weekend break.” 

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Throughout the event, teachers and students can expect to embrace the diversity of the student body. In addition, teachers have aspirations that this day will be a continuous learning experience that the students can appreciate, so much so that students will bond over cultural similarities and even create connections by learning more about their peers. 

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In order to celebrate, the library hosted a mix of 9th and 11th graders observing the performances from members of the student body and outside dancers. The first half of the performances featured a Chinese lion dance troop focused on strength and bravery, followed by a dragon dance that symbolized power, prosperity, and the immense amount of balance and training required. There were a series of banging drums and chanting while the dragon moved around the library, interacting with the students; students were even able to participate.

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Jason Tomanelli, a Westlake freshman, took part in this activity, and stated, “It was really cool getting to see all the different cultural traditions and I had a lot of fun taking part in the dragon dance.” 

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Additionally, the Blendors sang a traditional Italian fight song, “Bella Ciao,” which translates to “Goodbye beautiful,” a resistance and protest song to the harsh working conditions in Italy during WWII. 

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Lastly, two sisters, Evania and Erlene Prasad, performed a traditional Indian dance wearing Lehengas.

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 To end off the day, groups transitioned into the cafeteria where there were different tables, each one having a board representing a different country around the world. Some tables included food, drinks, or even traditional games. In fact, a big hit centered around South Korea, where the game - ddakji chigi - a game where students throw folded paper squares on the ground to flip and strike their opponents tiles - was played by the students. 

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Finally, at the table that represented India, a student, Juliana Suriano, was working with henna for students who could request a design and receive a natural, plant-based dye on their arm or hand. Multicultural Day 2026 brought students and staff together to celebrate each other's differences. 

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A big thank you to the Westlake PTA and Principal’s Advisory for setting up this amazing  day where we get to recognize the backgrounds and ethnicities from around the world. While a student representing South Korean heritage admitted to being “nervous about how everything was going to go,” ultimately “it ended up working out and everyone had fun.”

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2026 marks the first official event of the multi cultural day, students and teachers were apprehensive about the trajectory of this day but it ended up being a crowd favorite. Since this day was such a hit among the students and faculty, we can predict this to be a recurring tradition within our school. With this day being in our calendars for the future, we can always come back and remember the differences among our classmates and students and celebrate them by making everyone feel appreciated and acknowledged.