On the way to lunch on November 30, students waltzed into a quad dotted with booths of culture and over 20 students representing them. The event was organized by leadership and clubs such as BSU and ACT, as well as individual students signed up for the event and set up a booth.
Culture Expo is an event held at lunch where students can make posters or bring cultural items to bring culture on campus, with 2023 being its third year being celebrated at PRHS. Booths were full with colorful posters, ethnic treats, and cultural items.
The Filipino booth included a traditional folk dance called Tinkling, where dancers jump between two sticks. Students were encouraged to participate and try to dance.
Senior Mia Martin, a mixed-Filipino student representing her culture at the Expo, mentioned that she wanted to make school more comfortable for people from her culture. “I decided to put up a stand because I noticed that there were a lot of people from my culture that I didn’t know from campus,’’’ she said.
“I decided to put up a stand becuase I noticed that there were a lot of people from my culture that I didn’t know from campus,’’’ she said.
In order to celebrate Native American Heritage Month, ACT club decided to make a booth dedicated to the Salinan people. Since the Salinan tribe stretches along the lines of Big Sur to Santa Margarita which are local to us, ACT club decided the Salinan culture was important to highlight.
“I think it’s really important for everyone to be exposed to a bunch of different cultures, especially like indigenous cultures. You know people are like indigenous to like this land site and important to like shared land,” Anastacio, a Co-President of ACT club, said.
Most students, however, showed off their personal cultures.
“I had a lot of time and I’ve never really got it to share my cultural experiences with others. So it’s a really nice spot to try to set up and kind of give everyone a little piece of what I am used to compared to what they experienced,”
— Melanie Doan, representing Japan,said.
Other cultures that were presented were Ethiopia and more Black-American culture, represented by students in BSU.
New Zealand was represented by senior Ivan Zhang, who is a foreign exchange student this year.
Bosnia, Serbia, Scotland, Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras were covered as well.
