Fifteen Elon students in a Winter Term course titled “Global Fine Arts” presented a cultural fair for 7th-graders from Burlington’s Blessed Sacrament School Friday, Jan. 19.
Six countries were celebrated as students played human chess, an Italian tradition, learned an Ethiopian getting to know you game, and ate pakoras dipped in sweet pomegranate sauce, an hors d’oeuvre from India.
Knowing that the research they were doing needed to be passed on to the 24 students from Blessed Sacrament, the Elon students took on the role of cultural ambassadors, sharing language, culture, history, and values from each country through displays, presentations, and hands-on activities. “Global Fine Arts” provides a foundation in understanding how the arts communicate, while looking at the arts in context around the world.
The cultural fair provides Elon students an opportunity to choose a country that relates to their future career goals or to their current world interest.
Chris Machado and Luca Tolan wanted to know more about their Italian heritages; Sherry Kylander speaks regularly with a company representative in India and wanted to know more about his culture; and Sarah Pugh wants to do a social work internship with N.C. Latino migrant workers, of whom El Salvadorans are the second largest group.
As the 7th-graders boarded the bus at the end of the fair, one boy turned to Barbara Rhoades, the course instructor, and said “Do this again next year, but remember to invite the eighth graders next time so I can come again.”