Elwood Students Celebrate Diversity With International Foods Night

ELWOOD, NY — Students were invited to showcase their heritage through food at the first-ever Elwood-John H. Glenn High School International Night, the school district announced.

Students brought in food or created a station to highlight the cuisine of their culture or any country they are interested in.

More than 300 students, faculty and family members gathered in the cafeteria that evening to sample foods from 50 different stations including Thai, Greek, Mexican, Indian, French, Israeli, Jamaican, Italian, Filipino, Irish, German and Caribbean cuisine.

The station contest winners were Mikaeel Aleem, Palwasha Ali, Sabrina Ayub and Iman Qazi’s "Chup" station and Anthony Bell and Peter Bell’s "Greece" station.

For entertainment, American Sign Language students performed "Hold My Hand" by Lady Gaga.

"As second-generation Greek Americans, and with only a handful of Greek families in our community, we don’t often get to celebrate and share our heritage," Anthony Bell said in a news release. "My brother and I were excited to do so at International Night. The event really made
us, our culture and our mom’s cooking feel appreciated. The event was a lot of fun and a great way to change up the week."

Nicole Gendjoian, the International Night coordinator, said the evening served as a great way for people to "embrace our diversity" and celebrate different cultures from around the world during National Foreign Language Month.