CultureALL Brings the World to Howe Elementary
CultureALL brought examples of cultures from around the world to Howe Elementary School.
Wednesday was Culture Day at Howe Elementary, another “It’s a Small World After All” event brought to you by the global ambassadors at CultureALL.
CultureALL is a Des Moines-based non-profit organization that’s been shrinking the world down to Iowa size for ten years now, a milestone that was recently celebrated with the lavish Bollywood Ball at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates downtown.
The motto at Howe is “Go Nice” and you can’t go any nicer than CultureALL. Program Coordinator Cheryl Kirpalani likes nothing better than helping schoolkids fully discover one another. They learn to celebrate similarities and differences both. How does she know all of the cross-cultural outreach works?
“Because we keep getting invited back,” she said while hustling through the Howe hallways from a workshop on Irish jigs to one on Japanese calligraphy. This is the third straight year at Howe, for instance. And as of this year, CultureALL has added Jefferson and Jackson to its already busy schedule of DMPS school events.
In a school district as rich in diversity as this one (at Howe alone students come from homes where 15 different languages are spoken) it’s often helpful to summon a cultural cavalry like CultureALL’s 100 ambassadors from 63 distinct cultural traditions. Each ambassador is either an immigrant, a first-generation descendant or has lived in the culture of their expertise for multiple years.
Kirpalani shared one representative example of how events like the one at Howe on Wednesday morning can remove barriers between children.
“There was a Bosnian boy who wasn’t yet too comfortable with his English,” she said. “So he was shy and other kids left him out. But when our Bosnian ambassador came to his school she spoke to him in Bosnian. When the other kids saw that he could understand and speak her foreign language he was suddenly cool and they embraced him.”
Score another social success story for CultureALL.
Howe had seemingly the whole world in its halls on Wednesday. In the gym Reed Miller, dressed in the kilt of a Scotsman, was demonstrating a variation of hopscotch adapted to the markings on the floor. Of course, hopSCOTCH must be a Scottish game, right? Actually, Miller told the kids, no. Its origins were as an agility drill designed to keep Roman legions on their toes in defense of the Empire. The Scots got it from them. In any case, he further explained, one’s balance is better maintained if one’s arms are extended sideways, like this, he demonstrated as he skipped pretty nimbly through the grid for – an old kid. See how it’s done?
Whereupon, a student named Owen twinkle-toed through in half the time – with his hands in his pockets – showoff!
In the art room everyone was getting Henna tattoos applied. The Indian art form derived from a floral and eucalyptic paste is more than decorative. It’s also thought to be cooling to both the skin and soul during hot times.
Elsewhere there were African shakers and European folk-dancers, too. Separately, everyone seemed geared to distinct beats. But collectively the building had one rhythm. It was nice. Way to go, CultureALL! Right, Howe?
