Barstow’s Cultural Enrichment Festival returns this year with promises of engagement, celebration, and, of course, excellent food!
In preparation for the Cultural Enrichment Festival on Sunday, Barstow’s faculty, students, and families put in work. This is the third year of the festival, and it’s experienced a lot of growth.
Over thirty countries and cultures were represented at the Cultural Enrichment Festival this year, and around forty families and student groups hosted them. These numbers have continued to grow each year the festival has been held, which has definitely helped it gain some publicity.
Mrs. Jessica Chanos, an ID+E Co-coordinator and school counselor here at Barstow, has been on the committee each year.
This year’s event preparation went smoothly. It’s an involved event with a lot of logistics pieces, and it takes a lot of support to be able to organize it.
Mrs. Chanos, Mrs. High, Mr. Muhammad, Sheetal, and Mrs. White met together earlier in the year to start planning the festival. They discussed things like how to organize the timing of music groups, when students and families will be able to volunteer to host tables, set community expectations for the event decorum, and how to offer up the stipend that helps offset the cost of hosting a table.
The committee also works with communications and marketing staff in order to properly advertise the event to the Barstow community. They also work on printing things like stickers, allergen cards, and the passports that are handed out at the festival.
One really powerful engagement tool that the festival employs is the involvement of student groups. It creates a powerful representation when parents and visitors can see how passionate and welcoming Barstow students are when it comes to sharing about where they come from.
However, a lot of the responsibility also falls on them to ensure the festival is a success.
Something student groups struggled with last year was gathering enough student volunteers to keep tables staffed the entire day, but this year they were much more prepared, according to Barstow’s Black Student Union President Taylor Easterwood ‘25.
Preparation for student groups typically involves lots of communication with Mr. Muhammad, filling out stipend information, gathering and creating table decorations, and deciding on what food they’re going to bring to the festival.
“Look forward to the baked mac and cheese from our table,” says Easterwood.
The Levant Region tables are all going to be joined together this year, with Meera Al-Rajabi ‘25 and her mother at the forefront of organization. Lots of tasty treats will be available at those tables, including big hits from last year.
Next year, Al-Rajabi hopes that the idea of a spirit week the week of the festival will come to fruition next year to help the event gain traction among middle and high school students. It was talked about at meetings this year, but unfortunately never got off the ground.
The participation alone of the parents and students involved is what truly makes the Cultural Enrichment Festival such a success, according to Mrs. Chanos. Their effort to create beautiful presentations for their cultures creates a huge impact on the attendees, and seeing everyone come together in the same space cultivates a healthy festival environment.
Lots of new families volunteered to participate this year. Some countries have several families who represented them all together, and some new countries were also in attendance this year.
An African dance group and a mariachi band performed at the Cultural Enrichment Festival this year, but the committee decided to sprinkle in the performances throughout the day in order to create a more immersive experience.
Sage, Barstow’s dining service, also be catered in the cafeteria for those interested.
For those middle and upper school students who weren’t all that impressed by the passports from previous years, there was a new escape room-esque activity that will hopefully peak your interest. There were also gift certificate prizes for winners, in case monetary gain is more your style.
Barstow as a community has known for a long time about the importance of the sense of belonging for all of its members. However, in recent years it’s become much more popular for communities to strive to highlight representation and a sense of togetherness among its people. “The research behind it is really strong,” explains Mrs. Chanos. “You can be invited into a space, but not necessarily feel like you belong there, and when you think about the implications of that for a child or a student or a family” it becomes something that’s really important to talk about and search for ways of improvement.
Events like the Cultural Enrichment Festival are ways that Barstow is attempting to close that gap, “We want everybody to feel like this is their place and that they feel comfortable being their authentic self here,” adds Mrs. Chanos.
“You have to be aware of your intention going into it,” adds Easterwood. “You’re going to get out of the festival what you’re going to put into it,” so try your best to engage with table representatives in order to expand your horizons.
“I learn a lot from the festival,” says Al-Rajabi. “It’s fun to learn about other people’s cultures, and I think more people should encourage others to engage with the table hosts.”
The Barstow community is made up of so many different ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds. We all must do our best to recognize those different from us to create and preserve a welcoming environment where this community can thrive. Not only will you learn more about the world and be able to apply that knowledge in your everyday life, but you’ll get to know those around you on a deeper, meaningful level. Attending the Cultural Enrichment Festival would be a perfect place to foster those appreciations!
