Marist’s 3rd annual Culture Night took place March 6, showcasing the rich diversity, ethnicity, and culture that the schools’ students and faculty represent. This event featured 18 tables, including new additions from the Netherlands, Croatia, Russia, and India this year.
Culture Night was a huge success bringing in staff, students, and members of the Marist community to embrace their diversity. Tables representing a vast variety of cultures provided food tastings, information about cultural background, and members of the Marist community to help educate attendees about the country/culture they were representing.
One of the founders of the event, graduate Kayla Trevino ‘24, spoke on why Culture Night is so important to her and why she continues to support and encourage students to attend.
“I think Kayla’s speech was super special and really showed how much she cares about Marist and her heritage,” said junior Gianna Bonafilia.
The gym was decorated with vibrant colors, balloon art, and posters. Cultures represented included: Greece, Lithuania, Philippines, Palestine, Italy, France, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Pan-Africa, Nigeria, Ireland, Poland, Croatia, India, Netherlands, Russia, and Spain.
At the Mexico table, visitors were offered chips and guacamole, el helado (Ice cream) and tamales. Ireland offered their notorious taytos which are onions and cheese potato chips, Irish soda bread, and brown bread.
“The food helped to give an insight on what people in different countries around the world eat,” said senior Mike Philip.
Those who attended moved throughout the gym to enjoy all Culture Night had to offer.
“My favorite tables were Ireland and Palestine, both had great displays and some amazing foods,” said Bonafilia, “I also loved the performance by all the cultures. It really made this event so much more lively”.
Students representing Mexican heritage performed traditional dances, and students representing Croatian heritage sang a beautiful song in their native language. During the event the gym was filled with laughter and joy while attendees interacted with each other on a more personal level.
“I really liked helping people learn about Italy and Italian traditions that are super important to my family and I and a lot of other Italians,” said junior Charlotte Consiglio.
One of the goals of Culture Night is to give the Marist community a broader sense of belonging by bringing together attendees with the same cultural background and traditions as fellow classmates and faculty.
“Culture Night as a whole was such a fun night, seeing everyone come together to show off pieces of their culture and share it with others was so cool,” said Consiglio.
