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It is common for people to separate into specific social groups and to limit their social interaction to within these groups. Some of the goals of the new Multicultural club at NS are to teach people how to interact outside of their social groups, to learn to celebrate the backgrounds of those who are around them, and to develop appreciation and understanding for who people are and for their cultures.
“Culture has such a big part of making us who we are,” said NS principal and multicultural club advisor Christy Straatman. “I think the more that we understand someone’s culture, the more we appreciate them. It brings understanding, and I just want it to be a positive thing that we celebrate.”
The multicultural club has been working closely with Latinos in Action, but Latino culture isn’t the only culture represented and celebrated in the multicultural club. Students from all different backgrounds are encouraged to join the club. Each month, the club plans on doing an activity, all of which will focus on a different culture that is represented in the NS Community.
“We plan on celebrating Black History Month. We reached out to our French teacher, and French is actually going to be doing an activity,” Straatman said. “In March, maybe we can do something about Irish culture. So, it’s really, again, not just on one culture, it’s on many cultures. So, we’re planning on reaching out and being creative on how we do this. I think that’s what’s fun is we’re just, we’re focusing on, ‘What’s our school community?’ We have a big Scandinavian days down here, right? That’s Dutch. My husband is actually Dutch, and so that’s something else we might pull in.”
Straatman believes that when people embrace and learn about the different cultures and backgrounds of those who are around them, they can find similarities and unity despite the differences that exist between them.
“I feel it’s really important to celebrate differences,” Straatman said. “Sometimes, as we’re celebrating differences, we find out that we have so much more in common. And that’s important, and I think that’s healthy for all of us.”
NS junior and multicultural club member Alicia Jones believes that learning about different cultures and how to find common ground with people is important in the present and at NS, but knowing these kinds of things will continue to benefit students after they leave NS.
As students leave and go to other places in the world, they are going to meet people from different backgrounds. The multicultural club can provide insight on how to interact with those from other backgrounds.
“I like it because…here we’re just known for having two different races,” Jones said. “Once we’re out of here, there is going to be a whole bunch of other people, and a whole bunch of different opinions, and how they are towards how we grew up. We’re going to learn about it, and we can know ahead of time on how people celebrate. After we leave from North Sanpete, some of us will be going to college, or we’ll be moving on to some other place, and there’s more diversity everywhere, so we have to know.”
According to Latinos in Action adviser Matt Braithwaite, one of the things that the multicultural club can teach students is instead of seeing diversity as a challenge, to see it as an opportunity for growth. It educates students on how to connect with people who are not from a similar background and on realizing and accepting that there are differences that are naturally going to be between people.“You’re trying to unite people from different areas, you’re trying to find common themes, and ultimately the key reality is we’re all human,” Braithwaite said. “There’s no question about it. Just sometimes as humans, we can easily tend to focus more on differences, and we can at times see those as more of a trial or a challenge instead of seeing them as opportunities to come together and grow together.”
