Peddie students learned about and exchanged different cultures as they celebrated International Day on April 11. Held every two years, International Day allows the entire community to learn about different countries as students bring in food, art, games and more from all over the world.

The event was created nearly 20 years ago by Anne Marie Gustavson, former chair of the language department.

“International Awareness Day is a day to celebrate the different cultures that make up the community, and a good opportunity for faculty and students to present their cultural awareness that most of the time is their passion,” Jose Ruiz, current chair of the language department, said.

The day starts off with students coming into the theater holding flags representing different nations.. The assembly then continues as the students, faculty and performers from outside of Peddie showcase their music from their respective countries.

The celebration takes weeks to prepare as volunteers need to plan what they will be doing to teach the community about their countries, and then have all necessary materials ready. Ranging from classes teaching students how to dance to Korean pop music to teaching students how to make pasta from Italy, each presentation required dedicated work from each volunteer.

“It was a little stressful preparing for International Day, because we decided to bring in snacks from Taiwan and show them a slideshow. We had to make sure that we brought in enough food for everybody, and that our presentation was set up properly,” Charleen Chen ’17 said.

In the future, Ruiz plans to expand the event to more than once every two years, and to keep it as a prevalent celebration in the community.

“My hopes are to organize the event every year and to make students more excited about this day,” Ruiz said.