Johnson Park School Celebrates Diversity at “Immigration Night”

It's not every night that parents hang out at the elementary school to break dance with their kids, but that's exactly what happened during “Immigration Night” at Johnson Park School.

The event, held Tuesday night, was a culmination of projects completed by the school's three fourth-grade classes. The students, who learned about immigration and studied their family ancestors, spent the night dancing, singing patriotic songs and performing skits in honor of their heritages.

“It's so important to treasure your roots,” said Mary Demarest, a fourth-grade teacher who organized the event.

 Immigration is important to Demarest, whose parents immigrated from Italy in the 1950's. She hoped that teaching the students about their ancestors and the struggle of immigration would help them appreciate where they came from and give them a sense of pride.

“Tonight is a celebration of our diversity and yet how we are all Americans as well,” she said.

The teachers had each student research a family member and write a biography. Some students wrote about relatives who arrived in the U.S., while others chose relatives who immigrated hundreds of years ago. Some were from Russia or India, others from Scotland, but they all had the same underlying theme- immigration is difficult.

 Anne Pasquale, the school's Artist in Residence from Young Audiences of New Jersey, a not-for-profit arts and education program in Trenton, took each biography and combined them all into a skit that told the stories of the student's ancestors.

Pasquale then met with the students five times over the last month to work on acting methods and improvisation skills.

“This year it was really fun. They enjoyed the games and the exercises,” said Pasquale. “Theater is a good way to get kids to work together as a team.”

The students brought props from home and performed their skit for their parents. They even improvised as Pasquale read their stories aloud.

At the end of the night, each class took a break dancing lesson taught by Mark Roxey of the Roxey Ballet Company in Lambertville.

Roxey, a lifelong professional dancer, demonstrated basic dance rhythms and break dancing skills and then helped the students practice. He talked about the cultural background of break dancing and stressed how important dance can be when learning about other cultures.

The students caught on quickly and were spinning around on the floor while parents were encouraged to join in.

“The kids absolutely love it,” said Demarest, who couldn't believe how attentive her class remained through the hour-long session. “I'm going to have to start break dancing to keep them engaged.”