On April 23, Oxford High School hosted the second annual Festival of Nations. The Festival of Nations is an event that is held in the Charger Yard at OHS, showcasing the cultures of many different countries from around the world. The idea for the festival came due to the large amount of international students and families in the Oxford community. 35 different languages are spoken in the Oxford School District, and the festival is used as a way for international communities to showcase their unique cultures.
“Last year, one of the big things that we all talked about was how to create opportunities for students and parents,” assistant principal Lucas Ferguson said. “We have a lot of families that might not have had a space to showcase the uniqueness of their cultures. Once we started talking to other people who were also just as passionate as we were about trying to create opportunities for kids, we found out that there were a lot of people who wanted to be involved in it. We were lucky to have companies like Vault Entertainment and Snow Biz. This year we had the tent company, Vault
Entertainment, that were willing to donate and help out to make it happen.”
Oxford High School’s International Club played an important role in helping with the festival, along with Student Council, RISE Club, French Club, and more. OHS’s International Club serves as a way for international students to showcase their cultures, along with meeting new people from different backgrounds. Zeyad Ibrahim is a senior at OHS and a member of the International Club.
“Just being an international student myself and being from Egypt, I always had some difficulties living and adapting to the culture here,” Ibrahim. “But when I saw International Club, a club that represented a variety of different cultures and awareness, it made me want to join and spread awareness of my culture as well.”
Not only did Oxford High School clubs participate in helping with the Festival of Nations, but other members of the community also helped set up and host the festival.
“We’ve had people from the university or in the community that have reached out to sponsor, not just the people for the stage and the tents, but also for the passports that they had in the tents,” Ferguson said. “Those were provided by a translation company, from Dr. Bussade, who was the person in charge of the Brazil tent. Her translation company sponsored the festival and bought all of those materials. Chef Hughes and the culinary arts department helped out a lot. A lot of the things, like the sample cups and some of the ingredients, all of the food at the American tent, he kind of led that.”
Starting this year, an American tent was featured at the festival. Doing so was to welcome others from different countries to share a piece of American culture with people who have not previously experienced or seen traditional American food and activities. For the food choices, the American tent featured barbeque pulled pork sandwiches and baked
beans.
“Our planning was very last minute, within about a week or so before the Festival of Nations we started planning what we wanted in the tent,” junior Thomas Nichol said. “It was very impromptu. For the food it was pretty obvious what the best choices were barbeque burgers or hot dogs, and barbeque just ended up being easier so that’s why we went with that. I couldn’t have asked for better results. Everything ran smoothly thanks to my mom, Paige Osborn, and Chef Hughes. We had lots of interest in our food and we had plenty of volunteers who were eager to help.”
