Bob Jones International Festival shows cultural diversity
Berencia Fore and Fred Daso modeled clothing from Africa at the Bob Jones International Festival. (CONTRIBUTED)
MADISON – Baklava, bratwurst and even break dancing were all part of the International Festival at Bob Jones High School.
The world languages department sponsors the annual festival. Department chair Lesa Clough coordinates the festival “to allow our students an opportunity to enjoy and learn about other cultures and to perform and show others the skills they have acquired in the languages they are studying.”
About 300 guests attended the event on Jan. 31. “Our guests were impressed with the talent performed by our students,” Clough said. “We had a tremendous turnout for the fashion show with about 30 kids participating and a lot of enthusiasm from the students.”
Students modeled fashions indicative of Africa, India, Pakistan, Mexico, Spain, South America, Central America, Germany, Togas, Japan and China.
At Bob Jones, about 600 students are enrolled in Spanish, 140 in Latin, 135 in French and 130 in German.
Members of the French, Spanish, German and Latin clubs participated. For Latin cuisine, students served bread salad, a common dish for the Romans and still eaten in Italy. Assorted Mexican food was available.
“French students made dessert crepes — made to order. They had a table with crepe machines and fillings like chocolate, fruits and whipped cream,” Clough said. Schnitzel and bratwurst gave a taste of Germany.
In addition, the international smorgasbord offered quiche, taquitos, bruschetta, Italian meatballs, cheeses, baklava, pannettone, cream puffs, eclairs, cakes, salsa and cheese dips and hummus and pita chips. “They all enjoyed the food tremendously,” Clough said.
French Club members Krissy Decker, from left, Holly Romak and Kaley Bush cook crepes. (CONTRIBUTED)
For entertainment, Latin classes demonstrated break dancing and recited poetry. German students performed skits, while Spanish students sang a Mexican Christian pop song. Chinese ink painting was on exhibit. French students danced in a rousing can-can line.
Bob Jones language teachers are Clough, French and Spanish; Brenda Castaneda, Spanish; Jennifer Bruni, German; Raymond Congo, Latin; Jessica Davis, Spanish; Angela Mooney, French; Rebecca Perry, Spanish; and Erin Piro, Spanish.
