Riverside Elementary’s PTA Family Culture Night featured activities to learn about Native American, Samoan, Peruvian, Black American and

Karen cultures.

Whitney Swasey, who has two kids attending the school, had never heard of Karen, an ethnic group living in South-East Asia.

“I didn’t even know where it was, I didn’t even know it was a thing,” she said.

A Riverside Elementary student’s family created a display to share information about the foods, flag, alphabet and customs of the Karen people. Kids had their faces painted in a traditional Karen style called Thanaka, and sampled candies popular among the Karen people living in Thailand and Myanmar.

Swasey said it benefits her kids to learn about other people’s backgrounds and traditions. “They’re going to be more inclusive if they understand why people are a certain way and understand where they come from,”
she said.

Other culture night activities included Samoan dancing, Black history coloring pages, a Peruvian Nazca lines activity and a Native American craft. Students also explored their own culture, posed with flags in a photo booth and placed start stickers on a map to show where they were born.

“It’s fun to see where people are putting the stars and I’m thinking ‘I can’t believe somebody who was born so far away is here,’” PTA Culture Night Coordinator Barbara Reyes said.

Reyes said it is good for students to realize their classmates may have a different life experience and different ways of doing things.

“Riverside has kids from over 30 different countries and cultures attending each day,” she said. “We hope that this activity can help the kids discover and appreciate some of the beautiful things that other cultures can offer. This event is also intended to help all kids recognize their own unique culture and that they can be proud and share that culture with others.”

Families learned about more than 30 cultures from posters created by families highlighting the cultures of their heritage, such as Russian, Indian, Scottish, Colombian and Argentine, as well as non-geographical cultures such as the Deaf community and the disabled community.

Leigh Wheeler is Shoshone but was not raised in a Native American
community.

“I love my culture,” she said. “I, myself, never actually got to grow up in it very much because my mother was adopted off the reservation, but I love sharing what I do know.”

She feels it’s important to instill knowledge and pride of their culture in her children who are students at Riverside Elementary. She participated in culture night by hosting a hands-on craft for students to make their own colorful tipis.

PTA member Maylynn Steiner said the purpose of the fun and educational activity was “to be seen and to see others and to appreciate cultures all around us. We don’t often get a chance to hear about other people’s common meals or common activities. It’s important to find that connection.”

She said the topic of unity comes up in every PTA meeting and that parents and teachers look for ways to involve families and help kids feel seen and important.

“Hopefully this event will foster a sense of inclusivity and teach kids that diversity is an asset that makes us stronger,” Reyes said. λ