Students prepare to walk Bonita Vista High’s (BVH) campus and proudly represent countries as a new spirit week is introduced. On Oct. 23, a Jupiter message released to BVH students and staff, announced a new multicultural spirit week.
Associated Student Body (ASB) president and senior Alexis Acosta mentions that this spirit week was inspired by the California Association of Directors of Activities leadership camp ASB officers attended during the summer. Through this, officers learned that multiple schools in the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) had already introduced multicultural spirit weeks.
“[BVH ASB officers] thought the idea was really cool, especially the way [other schools] go about it. We knew that BVH has not had a multicultural spirit week yet, so we thought of introducing one,” Acosta said.
Multicultural club President and senior Amira Alramadan, finds the spirit week as an opportunity for her to advertise her club and further connections within the community. Moreover, allowing a way to represent a variety of cultures and traditions.
“It is really cool that [ASB] is acknowledging different cultures. I feel like I can advertise [the multicultural] club a lot more because of this spirit week and get more people involved in this community. The club means so much to me as this is the only place on campus where there’s representation for a variety of different ethnic backgrounds,” Alramadan said.
As someone who finds interest in diverse cultures, Alramadan acknowledges the welcoming and inclusive atmosphere the multicultural spirit week may bring into campus. She hopes for the spirit week to shine light on other cultures that may not be represented at BVH as frequently.
“There are a lot of cultures represented at BVH. I feel the spirit week opens up a more inclusive environment on campus,” Alramandan said. “I would like to see representation from different ethnic minority groups such as Filipinos, different Central Americans, Middle Easterns, especially because our school is majority Hispanics.”
The new multicultural spirit week provides a space for the community to appreciate and celebrate the cultures that make up BVH. With this, Acosta notices a positive reaction along with shared student excitement on the opportunity to talk about family, roots and culture.
“We know that our school is very diverse. Appreciating the cultures we have is not something that we talk about a lot, this [spirit week] would shine a good light on it. People might not talk about their culture because they are scared that they’re going to say something wrong, but you shouldn’t be scared to say something,” Acosta said.
On a personal level, Acosta finds this spirit week as an opportunity for her to represent her Mexican culture. Through participating in the spirit week, Acosta has a platform to talk about her traditions and “show it off.”
“I don’t look like a traditional Mexican girl. A ton of people have asked me ‘I didn’t know you were Mexican?’. I don’t look like it, but the point of this week is to show off what you really are,” Acosta said.
For ASB secretary and junior Ava Nixon, she sees this as a way to represent both America, her home country, and Mexico, her family’s heritage. Depending on the day, Nixon switches from one country to another. She explains that on Monday, she wore a National Football League Jersey and on Tuesday, she wore colors for both countries.
“I am really proud of where my family’s from and where I am from. I love being a part of the culture, so that makes me excited to represent it. Participating [in spirit weeks] creates an important part of making memories in high school, especially this spirit week because it [allows for] more representation,” Nixon said.
Along with the spirit days, the ASB holds a multicultural assembly on Friday. In this assembly students have the platform to represent various cultural performances including Tahitian, Samba dancing, mariachi and more.
“I hope that by the time of our multicultural assembly, people will have a lot of fun. [I also hope] people will get to learn new things about other cultures. We reached out to club presidents and we let them take it into their own hands and what they perform,” Acosta said.
The ASB faced a few challenges when developing the multicultural spirit week and introducing it. Some challenges included ensuring that the spirit days were inclusive and being unsure of what reactions the spirit week would receive.
“The biggest thing for deciding on the spirit week [was], we had to make sure that it was something that everybody wasn’t going to feel offended [by] and that it was something that would include everyone,” Nixon said.
Despite the challenges faced, Nixon and Acosata believe that this spirit week has received positive reactions from students and staff. Furthermore, Nixon hopes to see the ASB continue to have multicultural spirit weeks in the future and see an increase in participation.
“[This spirit week] means a lot to me because I have seen it on Tik Tok. I’ve had one in elementary school, so it’s fun to be able to do it again, and wear blouses for my culture. I’m really excited for multicultural families to be able to see those performances and give people the opportunity to represent their family history,” Nixon said.
