Praise Olaomosu, Grade 12
UWC-USA
When I think about meaningful experiences at UWC, there were too many moments that come to mind; like, the welcome ceremony or the matriculation - these events have shown me the meaning of our mission statement (in action). However, after taking some time for recollection, I thought deeply of two specific instances where I really saw the mission in action, and those are the school’s two cultural showcases. For the cultural showcase that occurred in November, we started preparing around a month before. I was very excited for it to happen, specifically for the opportunity to participate in such a big school event. While it was very stressful and time-consuming, it also presented the opportunity, at completion, to see different cultures I had not before at school, and I fully realized how diverse the school was in actuality. Yes, UWC brings students from all over the world together on a tiny campus, so diversity is supposed to be a given, but I feel like at times, the differences in culture and thought that we have when we come can be lost in little time.
The cultural showcase pulled out unique cultures, from individuals and groups, into the light in a space where we could express them through different actions, whether it was a song, dance, or poetry. The first cultural showcase, Color, was my first introduction to this diversity, and I would say it showed me the part of the movement dedicated to uniting nations, people, and cultures. Honestly, I can’t really say by that time, I and potentially many others really understood or acknowledged the education that the school was giving us, but I definitely do think we were a united community and starting to get more educated, especially after witnessing that plethora of culture. In fact, by this time and impart to the cultural showcase, I decided to apply and was eventually chosen to be one of the school’s culture leaders, so I could play a role when it came to conversations around culture and identity along with having a role in organizing cultural showcases and other control events.
As the year went on, I was able to understand and spectate certain cultural elements from different peoples due to the presentations and conversations surrounding the cultural showcase. The second cultural showcase further solidified these views for me. At this second experience, I noticed two things. One is as a community, we had a firmer handle when it came to views and opinions, so there was an education in the sense that there was a larger cultural understanding which actually played out in a few conversations throughout the showcase itself but also in general during that time we as a community came to understand and educate ourselves together, which definitely was needed as school was about to end abruptly.
The cultural showcase pulled out unique cultures, from individuals and groups, into the light in a space where we could express them through different actions, whether it was a song, dance, or poetry. The first cultural showcase, Color, was my first introduction to this diversity, and I would say it showed me the part of the movement dedicated to uniting nations, people, and cultures. Honestly, I can’t really say by that time, I and potentially many others really understood or acknowledged the education that the school was giving us, but I definitely do think we were a united community and starting to get more educated, especially after witnessing that plethora of culture. In fact, by this time and impart to the cultural showcase, I decided to apply and was eventually chosen to be one of the school’s culture leaders, so I could play a role when it came to conversations around culture and identity along with having a role in organizing cultural showcases and other control events.
As the year went on, I was able to understand and spectate certain cultural elements from different peoples due to the presentations and conversations surrounding the cultural showcase. The second cultural showcase further solidified these views for me. At this second experience, I noticed two things. One is as a community, we had a firmer handle when it came to views and opinions, so there was an education in the sense that there was a larger cultural understanding which actually played out in a few conversations throughout the showcase itself but also in general during that time we as a community came to understand and educate ourselves together, which definitely was needed as school was about to end abruptly.
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