“The Culture Fair is an event where people can showcase their different cultures and come together,” said Mark Chavez, a Mexican student here at Westerville South. 

He, and several other students from various cultures showed their culture in this year’s Culture Fair, organized by Westerville South’s International Culture Club. 

“Culture Fair is basically a thing we have at Westerville South where we gather a whole bunch of people from a whole bunch of cultures and religions and regions of the world,” said Mikaela Abankwah, a Ghanaian student here at Westerville South. 

She, along with several other Ghanaian people, set up the Ghana table at the Culture Fair, showcasing foods and fun facts about Ghana’s culture on their poster.

“It gives students a voice and a chance to showcase their own uniqueness and culture with their school. Many of their friends may not know anything about their culture, the food they love, the traditions they have, etc…,” Melissa Simashkevich, one of the organizers for this year’s Culture Fair and ESL teacher, stated.

According to Simashkevich, the Culture Fair got its start at the desire of the student body; the school tried to hold one in 2020; but due to the pandemic, it was canceled, as school closed. So, the International Culture Club picked up the torch, and decided to hold one itself.

Still, the International Culture Club couldn’t do it alone. It had the help of the school and  other clubs like the Equity Club. 

The Culture Fair  is representative not just of the International Culture Clubs culture, but of the vast diversity of cultures, religions, traditions and people that come to Westerville South every day.