The International Club is a new club at Lancaster High School that provides students opportunities to celebrate and learn about other cultures around the world. LHS Spanish teachers Olivia Young and Cristina Falvo are the sponsors of the club and they said that the International Club promotes the various facets of many cultures.

“The club was started to honor and celebrate all cultures and diversity. There are different themes and activities for the meetings: cultural food, music, dance lessons, language exchanges, holidays, and [opportunities to] meet exchange students and English learners at LHS,” said Falvo. 

LHS students Moira Mazariegos, Chantee Alderman, and Ceana Bailes are members of the club and they said they enjoy learning about other backgrounds and perspectives.

“It is an amazing way to share experiences, maybe even personal experiences, celebrate diversity, and meet others from various backgrounds,” said Alderman.

 “International club is a club made to learn about different cultures, celebrations and also get students that are from other countries, exchange students and other students at LHS to meet and interact,” said Mazariegos. 

When the club meets they have all types of different activities for the students to do together. 

“During meetings we do fun activities and discuss the events we will have. We also do student spotlights where we have some of our exchange students talk about their families, traditions and where they’re from,” said Mazariegos.

The club is full of experiences and is a great way to create memories with different people here at LHS. 

 Ceana Bailes said the club is a great way to bring students together and be connected.

¨This club is also about bringing students together and making our school community more connected, and it helps spread awareness about diversity at our school,¨ said Bailes.

“During meetings, we plan and participate in activities related to upcoming cultural holidays and focus on honoring other cultures respectfully—especially those that are underrepresented or less well-known,” said Alderman.

“During meetings, there is usually a presentation and cultural activities, like in the future we will have a potluck, games, do crafts, watch short videos, and activities related to different countries, and it’s more like socializing as well. Also, it’s really cool to hear about people’s backgrounds and traditions. It’s a mix of learning, sharing, and having fun together,“ said Bailes.

A sample of the kinds of activities that the International Club participated in include:

• On November 5th the club celebrated Día de los Muertos Day of the Dead) by playing games and making guaguas de pan (bread babies) and drinking colada morada.
• On November 20th the club brought food to share, learned about each other’s Thanksgiving traditions, played games, and cooked together.
• On December 11th Elena Haeni did a presentation about her country(Switzerland) and what it is like during Christmas. She also made some traditional Swiss food. It was an awesome opportunity to learn about Swiss culture
• On February 3rd, after seeing how much people loved Elena’s presentation another exchange student named Fajer wanted to do a presentation about her country! She gave an amazing presentation about the culture in Saudi Arabia and what it’s like living there! She also made food to share!
• On February 5th the club was invited to join the French club to make crepes! Miss Taylor gave a presentation about the origins of crepes and the French culture surrounding it. Then we got to make and eat them ourselves!
• While Lunar New Year actually happened on the 7th the club took the opportunity of the Valentine’s Day social to hand out little red envelopes with chocolate coins this was because in china it’s traditional to add money to a red envelope and sent it to family members, they also included an invitation to join the club!

There are many great clubs here at LHS. What makes the International Club different is its universal appeal and that anyone can join. Any students that want to join the International Club should reach out to the club advisors, Falvo and Olivia Young.