Building Bridges that Span the World: Keystone Cultural Mosaic
10,000 steps. That was the number of steps one member of the Cultural Mosaic Committee had taken around the Keystone Multi-Purpose Room (MPR) on Saturday night after the Chinese Gala, the final event in the weeklong celebration of Cultural Mosaic. The team had been hard at work from 10 am to 10 pm that day setting up the MPR, after the 11 hours they spent the previous days setting up the World Fair in the Keystone Secondary School Gym. This hard work was all for the third annual Cultural Mosaic, a festival celebrating the amazing diversity of cultures found at Keystone and in the world beyond. This year’s event was bigger and better than ever, building bridges between students, teachers, culture, and nature all at once.
Work on this year’s Cultural Mosaic actually started last October, when the five executive members of the Cultural Mosaic Committee – Allan Wang (Grade 11), Anna Wang (Grade 11), Grace Yu (Grade 10), Lucas Ma (Grade 11), and Richard Gao (Grade 11) opened applications for other members. After many Secondary School students expressed interest in working on the event, the committee finally added seven more members: Bessie Wang (Grade 11), Dorothy Zhu (Grade 10), Jeffery Liu (Grade 10), Joyce Zhang (Grade 11), Lucy Liu (Grade 10), Michael Ren (Grade 9), and Sally Xue (Grade 9). Along with their supervisor and “cheerleader,” Keystone High School Dean of Student Life and Individuals and Societies teacher, Ms. Dorothy Mubweka, the committee began the lengthy planning process for the event.
The first, and perhaps most challenging part of the whole event was working on the theme days that comprised the week-long Cultural Mosaic. The committee members had big ideas for this year’s theme, starting with the overarching idea of connections and whittling it down into more precise themes for each day of the week, creating a cohesive build up to World Day and Chinese Day at the end of the week. Monday’s theme was There to be Different, celebrating uniqueness and diversity among individuals, with a scavenger hunt, trivia, and a dress code symbolizing love. Tuesday’s theme was Arms Open Wide, celebrating our wider connections to communities as unique individuals, with hidden puzzle pieces for the school to solve together and a dress code representing your support for a special community. The theme for Wednesday was Roots and Routes, which featured a Unity Tree community members could personally ornament and a global board game competition. Thursday, the final theme day, was focused on Ecoluture, how cultures connect with the natural environment, and featured an activity where students explored national animals and plants.
These meticulously planned theme days all lead up to two final Cultural Mosaic activities. Friday was World Day, where Keystonians celebrated cultures from around the globe at the afternoon’s World Fair. Booths were set up in the Secondary School Gym by advisory groups, with each group representing a different region. Community members could try their hand at an amazing array of activities, such as Tinikling, a traditional dance from the Phillipines, or perhaps Mongolian archery or the one foot high kick challenge from the Alaskan Youth Olympics. The event also included booths with a plethora of delicious delicacies from around the world, like Chinese desserts, Mexican tortillia chips, and Colombian Coffee. All the while, eventgoers got to enjoy some amazing music and dance performances from talented Keystone students, culminating in the tradition of everyone joining together to sing “We are the World,” celebrating our wonderfuly unique connections.
Such a large scale event took plenty of coordination and communication to successfully pull off. The Keystone Cultural Mosaic Committee described the complex logistics of the event, where they had to communicate with Grade Level Leaders and advisory groups to successfully organize the wide range of booths. This was in addition to working with many of the departments at Keystone in order to set up the venue and source materials, like the passports that everyone who attended the event received to get stamped at the various booths. The dedication of the committee memebrs and the faculty and staff who supported them led to an amazing day of cultural celebration at the World Fair.
As the excitement of World Day died down, the Cultural Mosaic Committee was still busy preparing for the final highlight of the week, the Chinese Day workshops and gala. Taking advantage of Keystone’s Campus Weekend, where all residential students stay on campus, this final event turned out to be a favorite of many students and committee members. A day celebrating the Chinese culture embedded within the school turned into a night of awe-inspiring performances at the Chinese Gala, with guests dressed in traditional Chinese clothing and talented student shows on stage. This memorable night was all thanks to the amazing collaboration between the committee and the student performers, who put on an unforgettable show!
While Cultural Mosaic has already concluded, its purpose of celebrating the diversity of cultures and building bridges through learning about others will continue on at Keystone, a school that itself embodies both China and the world. The event has already grown to become a school tradition in its three years of running, and will continue to grow in the following years. The Cultural Mosaic Committee members all agreed that the results of their efforts were well worth it. Many stated that it was seeing the smiles of performers or community members that truly touched them. For others, it was seeing how celebrating the diverse range of cultures found at Keystone has become so highly-valued by many community members. Finally, the committee members expressed their confidence that the event will continue to grow, even after they have left Keystone themselves. Cultural Mosaic has already been passed down from the creators of the event to the current committee members, and they are eager to continue passing it down to the students who come after them so that even more pepole may enjoy the smiles that cultural celebration brings.
