For three days in March, Edward Little High School had a party. Feet were moving so fast that you could loose track of them with a blink. The food served was so good that your taste buds would holler at your stomach to make more room. Music from here, there, and half way around the world filled the students’ ears with a flurry of culture.

It all took place form March 23 through 25. The event was staged by Edward Little’s civil rights team.

To ensure that the music would have feet to move and the food would have mouths to enter, the civil rights team of Edward Little High School was busy planning the activities and events which were coordinated with other school clubs. However, plans to have the Spanish club attend one day fell through. The result was a low attendance. Despite much advertising of the event over the intercom, the last day, the hip hop day, had low attendance as well.

There was a phenomenal turnout on the second day which featured Somali culture. One half of the room, being relatively ignorant of Somali culture, was educated by the Somali students who were at first shy. After much coaching, they informed the attendees that in Somalia girls and boys never touch while dancing. They also revealed the steps for a group dance that is often used in coming of age ceremonies. It took awhile, but everyone eventually got it down. After the dancing, rice and other Somali dishes were served. As it turns out, Somali music is very reggae-like.

“It’s all about the kids,” said Edward Little teacher and civil rights team coordinator Carole Wise. Through these culture and diversity days she and the civil rights team intended to bring the students together through cooperative efforts with other clubs and the sharing of diverse cultures.

“It’s about getting rid of our comfort zone,” said Wise “It’s about taking a risk. It’s like a turtle-it can’t move forward without sticking its neck out.”

The events were held after school from 2:15 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., and were open to all students so as to allow for the maximum breakage of social barriers.

The first of these culture and diversity days was Monday, March 23. It had a Mexican theme with Mexican food and music. There was supposed to be a dance instructor to teach the students how to salsa, but due to a shortage of funds, Wise had to teach the students. Salsa and guacamole were served along side tortillas. Since the Spanish club didn’t attend, not much education about Mexican culture was done.

Hip-Hop culture was the theme of the last day, March 25. Wise, having taken hip hop lessons, once again taught the small number of attendees. No food was served that day.

Earlier that day the civil rights team planned on having lunch with the student leadership program of Lewiston High School as a sign of good faith and to prove that the rival schools can coexist without competition. However, it seems that the plans were never realized.

The civil rights team hopes to have more such events in the future.

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