The Sunnyvale Sun

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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

The Nose Knows: Martin Villegas gives his food the sniff test before diving in. Many of the dishes were new to students.

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Multicultural Nimitz Elementary School turns Thanksgiving into a cultural harvest

By Erin Hussey

Walking into the Guided Learning Center at Nimitz Elementary School on Nov. 9 was like stepping into a melting pot with swirls of varied smells, tastes and colors. Beneath miniature flags of the world were several tables overflowing with dishes such as Chinese sticky rice, Peruvian alfajore cookies, Malaysian sardine sandwiches, Yorkshire pudding and, of course, the traditional American turkey.

The school-wide Thanksgiving Cultural Feast, organized by the school's diversity committee, not only honored the Thanksgiving holiday, but also celebrated the students' diverse backgrounds.

"The whole idea behind the committee and this event is that this school is very diversified; there are kids from many, many different cultures here, and that is something to celebrate," parent and diversity committee member Galit LevRan said.

Nimitz is one of five English language development centers in the Cupertino Union School District. In addition to English, there are 21 primary languages spoken by the students and families of the school. Nimitz strives to educate the whole child by focusing on literacy and incorporating mutual respect for all cultures. The diversity committee was formed last year by a group of parents and staff members to help foster this mission through various events.

"Our purpose is to organize and promote activities that teach acceptance of other cultures, but not only acceptance, but a real appreciation of the cultures that are part of our school and community," Nimitz Principal Dale Jones said. The Thanksgiving Cultural Feast was a spin-off of the committee's first event last spring.

"Last year when I helped coordinate the carnival, a lot of people were calling me just asking how they could bring food," committee member and parent Lenora Louie said. "But the carnival was almost too big, so I thought breaking out the food aspect would be nice, and I knew other schools had done Thanksgiving feasts, so I thought if we did a cultural feast, it would bring two ideas together."

Within one week after posting the event on the school's PTA website, more than 140 parents had volunteered to bring a dish from their heritage.

"Everybody eats," parent and webmaster James Lui said. "It's common to every culture, and it's something that can unite everyone together." As Lui looked around the room at the more than 200 parent participants, he couldn't help but smile. "I was struggling to even get three people to serve drinks at our walk-a-thon. Six finally showed up, but look at this; this is just wonderful."

At a little after 11 a.m., the first classroom of students arrived.

"I see yours! I see mine!" a girl in a pink dress said to her friend, first pointing up at a Korean flag and then to the flag from Sweden. Another boy was excitedly dancing with his empty plate, as he looked down the rows and rows of food set before him.

"I'm gonna go around and take everything," he said eagerly, tapping his plate against his head.

As the students worked their way through the line, the room began to sound like an outdoor market.

"This is really good," parent Lisa Grubb said. She had brought Hungarian crêpes called pallachintas. Her tactic was similar to the other parents trying to encourage the hesitant children to taste something unknown. "Do you have a sweet tooth?," she asked. A small kindergartner who could barely see over the table shook her head as she watched Grubb spread strawberry jam and sugar over the crepe.

"Food is something that everyone can do," Jones said. "It's something people feel good about and have a lot of pride in sharing. Also, having the parents serve it to the kids added that personal touch." When the students left the feast and headed to the picnic tables to try their selections, food wasn't the only thing they were taking with them.

"I think one of the best messages wasn't actually through the food, but seeing the parents work together," Jones said. "The kids walked away seeing that all of their parents can work together to do something really great."

After serving more than 500 students, the parents also had the opportunity to try each other's dishes. Like the students, some were cautious about trying something different, but later admitted how tasty each new item was. At the end of the Thanksgiving Cultural Feast, students, teachers and parents alike not only had full stomachs, but a better appreciation of the cultures around them.

"We want to bring different cultural aspects to the kids in bite-size pieces and also get the families to participate," Louie said. "Thanksgiving was a natural for sharing, and I really like the American aspect of multiple cultures coming together to share food. This was just like the original Thanksgiving."