Sabrina Pierce, Grade 12
UWC-USA
The Final Curtain Call.
It was the moment when the curtains closed at our second cultural showcase at UWC USA that I knew why I applied to UWC. Since I have been at UWC USA, I have participated in two cultural showcases and have been the leader of one of them. It is watching and participating in these showcases where the magic of UWC really comes to life. Each showcase is unique, but each one leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of unity and a sense of belonging to something far bigger than yourself. The showcases are completely student-run, and they allow students from over 90 countries around the world to express and share their own cultures whilst experiencing and observing others. Each performance embodies and brings to life a piece of a particular culture through various art forms, which overall leads to a show which opens your eyes to parts of the world you would have never seen otherwise. From storytelling to traditions and rituals, to myths and legends, to history and imagination; the second cultural showcase I participated in at UWC USA: Memory represented all these themes through skits, dances, songs, and even through ceremonial recreations.
The showcase provided me with a safe place to show a part of myself and my culture to the world, which comes from a tiny island in the Caribbean, made my culture feel recognized for the first time for how I wanted to portray it instead of how society generally stereotypes it. The showcase also allowed me to find new confidence within myself, as the support I received from my classmates whilst performing was overwhelming. The connections that form between everyone who participates in the showcases are much deeper than on a surface level and allows for the forming of a community with an awareness of the world that only a few will ever receive in their lifetime. The showcases truly symbolize the UWC mission in all its glory, with various cultures unifying to produce a single yet ultimately diverse show.
Though, little did we know that the curtain closing the Memory showcase in March would also be the closing of our entire year together, as a week later, we would all be sent home to our corners of the world prematurely due to the coronavirus. But at the moment at the end of the show, as “don’t stop me now” by Queen played whilst the lights dimmed on the stage, and everyone was dancing and celebrating all of our hard work, I truly felt a connection to myself and UWC which I can only describe as ultimately euphoric. That showcase was the last time that year, whereas a school, we could celebrate our unity whilst actually being together in one place without masks and fears of a virus that would soon devastate all of our countries in so many different ways. But just for that moment, we all were together, and it was so beautiful.
It was the moment when the curtains closed at our second cultural showcase at UWC USA that I knew why I applied to UWC. Since I have been at UWC USA, I have participated in two cultural showcases and have been the leader of one of them. It is watching and participating in these showcases where the magic of UWC really comes to life. Each showcase is unique, but each one leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of unity and a sense of belonging to something far bigger than yourself. The showcases are completely student-run, and they allow students from over 90 countries around the world to express and share their own cultures whilst experiencing and observing others. Each performance embodies and brings to life a piece of a particular culture through various art forms, which overall leads to a show which opens your eyes to parts of the world you would have never seen otherwise. From storytelling to traditions and rituals, to myths and legends, to history and imagination; the second cultural showcase I participated in at UWC USA: Memory represented all these themes through skits, dances, songs, and even through ceremonial recreations.
The showcase provided me with a safe place to show a part of myself and my culture to the world, which comes from a tiny island in the Caribbean, made my culture feel recognized for the first time for how I wanted to portray it instead of how society generally stereotypes it. The showcase also allowed me to find new confidence within myself, as the support I received from my classmates whilst performing was overwhelming. The connections that form between everyone who participates in the showcases are much deeper than on a surface level and allows for the forming of a community with an awareness of the world that only a few will ever receive in their lifetime. The showcases truly symbolize the UWC mission in all its glory, with various cultures unifying to produce a single yet ultimately diverse show.
Though, little did we know that the curtain closing the Memory showcase in March would also be the closing of our entire year together, as a week later, we would all be sent home to our corners of the world prematurely due to the coronavirus. But at the moment at the end of the show, as “don’t stop me now” by Queen played whilst the lights dimmed on the stage, and everyone was dancing and celebrating all of our hard work, I truly felt a connection to myself and UWC which I can only describe as ultimately euphoric. That showcase was the last time that year, whereas a school, we could celebrate our unity whilst actually being together in one place without masks and fears of a virus that would soon devastate all of our countries in so many different ways. But just for that moment, we all were together, and it was so beautiful.
www.unitedworldwide.co