In celebration of the cultural diversity and traditions here at Preuss, the Multicultural Empowerment Club organized the Multicultural Festival which was held at the Amphitheater on Saturday April 29 and commenced at 9:30am.

The Multicultural Festival is a celebration of cultures that has been around at Preuss for many years. In the midst of COVID-19, we had to refrain from inviting guests as a precaution of an increase in case numbers but, now that mask mandates and health policies have been dismissed, Preuss can now go back to welcoming families and friends back on campus to celebrate cultural diversity along with us.

The festival gave families and community members an opportunity to share their homemade, unique dishes. As food has the power to bring people together, this experience gives the guests a chance to learn more about the cultures outside their own and understand the people around them on a deeper level.

“It’s a space where we bring all of our families together.” explained Mrs. Wiedemeier.

The diversity of the foods that were contributed to the potluck was abundant. Portuguese, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Mexican, Honduran, Chinese, Iberian and many more dishes were brought in and were available to everyone, free of charge.

Being introduced to and recognizing your cultural heritage is always important and should be implemented from a young age so that once students are away from their families and starting to build their own lives, they keep on practicing their family traditions.

As per tradition, our ballet folklorico girl group performed at this year’s festival. Slayc, who is a group of students, Ivy Khuu, Ethan Le, Jahmya Jordan, Camillo Robinson, and Vivian To, from different clubs that come together to perform the popular music genre of K-POP. APIA, Asian Pacific Islander Association, made its appearance this year with a traditional Vietnamese dance where students wore Ao Dai’s. This year we were able to get in touch with an alumni, Natalia Robles, who started a mariachi band with friends at UCSD. In addition to these groups, independent singers like Areli and Fernando, sang traditional Mexican music and played corridos on guitars.

“It was cool to try new foods and to see people wearing their culture’s traditional outfits”, said sophomore Adrian De Leon.

Before Mrs. Wiedemeier joined Preuss, people from outside of the community came and performed at Preuss but this changed after she decided that we should have more student involvement within the festival.

The Multicultural Festival plays a significant role in keeping our community happy, welcoming and connected to one another. Mrs. Wiedemeier mentioned that she would like the Multicultural Festival to stay free of charge as it is an event that creates community. As well as this, she has plans to involve the middle school scholars and would like to encourage parents to speak about their particular dish to the guests.

“I’m looking forward to this continuing to be a tradition, its great and I think there’s way much more than we can do”, expresses Mrs. Wiedemeier, “This should be part of who we are.”