With the hopes of uniting the various cultural clubs around the campus, Spanish Club hosted a multicultural picnic held in front of the Bell Tower on Friday, March 30. From 11 am to 1 pm, tables, chairs, and an island of food welcomed French Club, German Club, and Korean Club who were invited to attend this event.
The brain behind this occasion was the Spanish Club President Allie Nava who wanted to build a relationship among other clubs and the school itself. Instead of having the members learn about one specific culture, the picnic allowed them to branch out, discover new languages, meet new friends with diverse backgrounds, and eat different ethnic foods.
“When I became president this year, I really wanted Spanish Club to reach out to Downey High School and the rest of the community,” Nava said. “I presented about three new ideas—the multicultural picnic being one of them—to the club members and they seemed to be enthusiastic about them.”
It is to no doubt that the president reached her goal to diversify. Korean Club President Lily Sol Kim was delighted for the invitation and found the idea to be clever. Since most organizations only focus on their specific cluster, this event taught them the importance of connecting with other groups to show the diversity of the school.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity to socialize with other clubs and share many ideas,” Kim said. “I wanted to be able to taste different cultures’ foods and talk about each and every culture present.”
Excitement and fun filled the grass area behind the O building as the attendees played musical chairs and “Lotería”—also known as bingo. However, in an occasion with free food and good company, commotion proved to be difficult to steer clear of. Some students were throwing food at each other and some uninvited guests also attended the event.
“We had people throwing food at each other,” Kim said, “and some groups of students just rushed in and stuffed themselves with food, claiming that they were part of the clubs.”
But in the end, fun outweighed all the stress. Nava’s concerns if whether or not the other clubs would be willing to participate and if there would be enough food turned out to be inane.
“Everybody cooperated and truly made the special event come alive right before my eyes,” the Spanish Club president said, “for that, I am really proud of all the clubs who participated, but especially my very own Spanish Club.”
French baguettes, Mexican bionico, fantakuchen cake, Korean rice cakes, Cuban potato balls, and French sparkling limeade were just some of the foods brought by the club members. The multicultural picnic proved to be a success in its first year that in the upcoming years, the members’ taste buds are surely craving to get a feel of more foreign dishes.
