Students Explore Heritage with Multicultural 'Trip'

Editor's note: The following is a press release issued by Valley View School District.

Students at will be able to take a trip around the world this year, thanks to the school’s new Multicultural Committee.

As a followup to last year’s successful Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, as well as the springtime Hispanic culture feast called a “kermes,” the Romeoville school decided to expand a bit this year.

“We wanted to acknowledge everyone’s culture,” said Virginia Duran, one of Hill’s bilingual teachers and the chairperson of the Multicultural Committee.

The same basic format will be followed each month with posters and special items on the walls throughout the school, a showcase display with flags of various countries near the gym, music, artwork, special lesson plans for teachers and a whole lot more.

September and the early part of October were Hispanic Heritage Month, with European Heritage Month following in October and early November and Native American Heritage Month in November and early December.

If all goes according to plan, December will feature Holidays around the world with each grade level representing a continent and each classroom representing a country on their assigned continent. 

February is Black History Month, March is Women’s Month, April is Middle Eastern Heritage Month and May is Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

During each month, older students may be asked to research and write about specific cultures while younger students could work on cultural crafts. Parents will be asked to come to school to talk about their heritage. And everyone will take tours of the hallways.

Duran is proud of the committee’s “collaborative work” which also will include planning a “multicultural kermes” in March in which all cultures will be represented with tasty dishes.

“We want our students to see the world differently and understand that we should all respect each other,” Duran said. “Exposure to other cultures, learning about things that are similar and different, that’s what it’s all about.”