“We All Belong,” Woburn’s Malcolm White School Celebrates Culture During Annual Multicultural Night

WOBURN — Each year, students at Woburn’s Malcolm White Elementary School and their families gather for a night of cultural celebration, highlighting the school’s diverse community and giving every family a chance to feel celebrated.

This year’s celebration took place on June 5, with over 300 people in attendance. Families from Brazil, Ethiopia, Morocco, Poland, Guatemala, the United States, Puerto Rico, Haiti, El Salvador, Uganda, Peru, India, Pakistan, and Honduras participated.

In the few weeks prior to the event, the Malcolm White (MW) team worked together to make this event vibrant and fun for all. 

In May, the MW team sent home a flyer with the date of the event and various ways families could participate. Among the most popular ways were preparing and sharing food from their cultures, bringing flags, posters and other traditional items from their countries. 

During the event, attendees enjoyed cultural foods, did arts and crafts, and got their faces painted, all while interacting with and celebrating one another.

“This event is great because it offers families who can, at times, feel overwhelmed or intimidated by these events, the opportunity to be the star of the show,” said Multilingual Teacher Christina Russo, who helped organize the event. “This event provides all of our students and families the opportunity to learn from each other in an informal setting.”

To close out the evening, everyone gathered in the gym for performances and demonstrations.

Students from Ku’s Taekwondo Academy kicked off the show with a martial arts demonstration, followed by a MW Kindergarten student, Hanos, who performed a traditional Ethiopian dance.

The final event of the night was a fashion show. Students who wanted to participate had the chance to strut down the runway in their culture’s traditional clothing.

The MW team would like to thank Woburn High School students who contributed their time on the day of the event to set up, the school staff and teachers who volunteered to serve food, host craft tables and paint faces, and the hardworking custodial staff for their assistance with the large-scale setup and cleanup.

“I think this is the best event on the MW calendar. It is great to see families demonstrating who they are as individuals and celebrating who we are as a community,” said Principal Robert Nickerson. “I’d like to extend a special thank you to Multilingual Teachers Lorena Bradbury and Christina Russo, who were integral in organizing this event.”