Multicultural Festival Celebrates Diversity

Windermere Prep recently celebrated the diversity of its students by holding its first school-wide Multicultural Festival.

School-wide families were invited to share artifacts, materials and foods from their countries of origin. In addition, student and professional international entertainment was provided.

“The festival was the end result of what began as a curriculum course I took last summer and a “Teaching Tolerance” grant I received to purchase multicultural education materials and resources,” said Cathy Novokowsky, a WPS fourth grade teacher who coordinated the event. “I completed this project as an attempt to create change through a school-wide project which would enhance student learning.”

Windermere Prep teachers received professional development from Novokowsky on the topic and the materials were shared through the school’s Knowledge Center. In turn, multicultural units were completed by students in every grade level throughout the school. From learning about winter holidays around the world in the in the first grade to designing menus from different countries in fifth grade; the entire student body learned about many different countries and cultures.

“The Multicultural Festival concluded the unit studies by celebrating the diversity of our own school,” said Novokowsky. Students were given passports, and as they toured each of the tables representing 18 different countries their passports were stamped. From eating stuffed grape leaves in Greece and sampling coffee in Columbia; to getting henna body decorations in Pakistan, WPS students toured the different countries and earned a free homework pass if they managed to visit them all.

There was much to learn. The Egyptian table split their display in half, dividing it between ancient or historic times and present day Egypt. At the Canadian table visitors ate French fries with gravy and took turns shooting a hockey puck with a hockey stick.

The various tables formed the perimeter around a stage area, where different international entertainment performed. These included Guyanese instrumental and dance performances, Irish dancers, and a bagpipe player.

The India table was colorfully accented by Indian fashion worn by (from left) Vaishali Laddu, Sweta Shroff, Beena Parikh and WPS First Grader Radhika Parikh.

Windermere Prep fifth grader Avina Harry (right) sings a bajan -- a Hindu song in the form of a prayer. She is accompanied on the drums by Avinash Persaud (left) and his sister Pretima Persaud on the cymbals. They all belong to the Saraswati Devi Mandir Hindu Temple located in Orlando.

Miyoshi Szczepaniuk, Tyler Smith, and Chieko Smith behind the Japanese Booth.

Students, parents, and visitors gather around the stage to watch the international entertainment that's part of the WPS Multicultural Festival.

Eman Salem (left) gives fifth grade classmate Samantha Mayfield and her brother Jack (a PreK4 student) a tour of Egypt. The Salem family sponsored the Egypt table at the festival.

Dancers from Maya's Dance School wait to perform a traditional Guyanese dance for Windermere Prep's First Annual Multicultural Festival. The dance was choreographed by lead instructor Romeco Kissoonauth and featured from left to right, Reshma Persaud, Deandra Singh and WPS fifth grader Avina Harry. Not pictured is Amy Minoo.

Fifth grader Matthew Salmon (left) is enjoying the entertainment at the Multicultural Festival with classmate Sahil Patel who is wearing a traditional Indian outfit called a kurta.

Second grader Regina Chapoy poses with a pinata at the Mexico table. The Chapoy family and the Guiot family who have students at Windermere Prep hosted the festival’s Mexico table.

Madison Connell, a WPS PreK4 student, is outfitted to honor her mother’s side of the family from Holland. The Connell family sponsored a table depicting the Netherlands and Scotland. While Madison donned the look of a little Dutch girl, her dad Duncan, was in full Scottish dress.



Octogenarian Marie Bellocchio of Winter Park gives her daughter Marla LaFalce a break by taking over the Italy booth. Marie’s grandson Nicholas LaFalce is a WPS third grader.