Friday April 5, 2017 was culture fair at Antioch Middle School.  About 175-200 children and parents near Antioch and other middle schools attended.   There was food, henna tattoos, music, poetry, games, Arabic name writing, and performances.

There were however some problems along the way such as, “Getting people here and taking risks to show up.” 7^thgrade history teacher at Antioch Jeffery Benes said.

Getting it ready after school was also a problem they faced. Jeffery Benes and 7^th grade math teacher Alsion Latcham planned for about a month with their diversity team “Second Home”. They painted posters, thought of ideas, and tested all their ideas on other students during the school day to ensure the fair went smoothly.

Another problem during the culture fair was that the tattoo artist couldn’t make it, but three females, Amina Mohamed, Marian Mohamed, and Safia Abu, were able to help out and it was a success.

In the cafeteria, food from different countries all over the world were served. African, Filipino, Chinese, Irish, and many other ethnicities were experienced through these dishes.  In the hallway of Antioch, people dressed in traditional clothing from different countries and got to take pictures by the green sceen so they got a picture showing an authentic setting to remember the culture fair.

“The culture fair was fun and I would love to do it next year as well,”Freshman at Oak Park  Fadumo Mohamed said.

The fair was a blast. Some would like to see other ethnic cultures next year.  They also hope to see other schools doing similar things to celebrate the diversity that occurs in public schools.