Multilingua Celebrates Voices From Around the World
From Haitian Creole to Korean to Latin, the power of language, culture and connection took center stage as the middle school DEI club hosted its second annual Multilingua event last week.
Seventh grader Relly Rand stepped up to the podium to share a Mandarin poem, “静夜思 Quiet Night Thought.” Rand wanted “to share my culture and show diversity with the Mandarin language. I selected this poem because it was a well-known Chinese poem, and it was suggested by my Mandarin teacher.”
DEI club co-chairs Abigail Wu ’30 and Ada Garberina ’30 organized this year’s event with support from faculty advisors Mitsuki Nishimoto, Brittany Farrar and Tasha Elsbach.
“It was so wonderful to recognize and celebrate the diversity in our middle school community,” Nishimoto said. “Some students have been speaking the language they presented in since birth, and others just started to learn it this year.”
Sixth grader Lexie Wessan has been speaking French at home as a second language since she was five years old. She performed a beautiful version of the song, “Dernière Danse” (“Last Dance”) in French.
“I love the melody and the message. It's a sad song, but it's also a happy one at the same time,” she explained.
While Wessan was nervous at the start, "I was happy that I was able to follow through with all my hard work, and I'm also super grateful to Ms. Meadows because she took her recess and her break time to help me and play the piano for me while I sang.”
In addition to Rand and Wessan, student participants included:
Noah Bowen ’31, Bijou Genece ’31, Greyson McCuddy ’31, Andrew Whaley ’31 (French)
Mina Coquillot ’31 (Haitian Creole)
Ms. Farrar’s 6B Class (Latin)
Reina Frias ’32 (Korean)
Ada Garberina ’30 and Divya Kolhi ’30 (French)
Odie Garfield ’31 (Spanish)
Ada Onwumere ’32 and Elon Okulaja’32 (Yoruba and Igbo)
Gia Ranganathan ’30 (Spanish)
Isabella Satchivi ’32 (Spanish)
Jeana Vigeland ’30 (Ukrainian)
Noah Bowen ’31, Bijou Genece ’31, Greyson McCuddy ’31, Andrew Whaley ’31 (French)
Mina Coquillot ’31 (Haitian Creole)
Ms. Farrar’s 6B Class (Latin)
Reina Frias ’32 (Korean)
Ada Garberina ’30 and Divya Kolhi ’30 (French)
Odie Garfield ’31 (Spanish)
Ada Onwumere ’32 and Elon Okulaja’32 (Yoruba and Igbo)
Gia Ranganathan ’30 (Spanish)
Isabella Satchivi ’32 (Spanish)
Jeana Vigeland ’30 (Ukrainian)
Middle school health and wellness teacher Lauren Napper also shared a French poem at the start of the event.
Nishimoto, who was proud of everyone involved, said, “Growing up, I felt that I had to hide the fact that I was bilingual, so hearing such a wide array of languages felt so affirming. At Masters, we don’t want you to leave a part of yourself at home — you can bring your whole self to school.”
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