Wayside: Eden Park Academy students recently got a taste of the world around them from the comfort of their own Gymnasium during their annual Global Citizen’s Night. To prepare for this event, each grade level was assigned a different country at the beginning of the school year and has been studying their respective country since then.
Each class was responsible for contributing something unique to their country. For example, most grades drew maps, studied languages, and learned about the different cultures and lifestyles.
On the day of the event, the entire school came together and set up display tables for their countries, which they filled with their projects, the food of their country, cultural artifacts, and many other items. On Global Citizen’s Night, families, teachers, and students packed the room to learn from each grade as they showed off their work and participated in a school-wide performance.
Fourth Graders Sivarithikaa Pandiyan and Max Foerty, who studied India for Global Citizens Night, shared details about their experience with their projects and the overall event.
“I learned what the words were in different countries and also about religions and what things mean in different places,” Pandiyan said. “My favorite country other than India, which was the fourth grade country, was Kenya because they had a lot of facts and a whole poster with different animals and other information.”
From Foerty’s perspective, Global Citizen’s Night is important because “it gives you an opportunity to know the cultures and populations of each country, and what they look like if you’re curious,” he said.
By the end of the night, it’s safe to say that everyone walked away with a better understanding of what life is like in other countries, what makes us different, and as how we all work together as a global community.
