2018 Cultural Festival: It's a Small World

The 2018 Cultural Festival was an incredible experience! The theme was, "It's a Small World," because there were so many connections made throughout the planning, preparation, and day of the event. Here are some highlights:

• Mr. Kaser and his students reconnected families to their native countries and former homes through virtual reality demos of Google Earth.
• Mr. Jin Stearns, author of: Lost Seoul  moved the audience by sharing his inspiring story of being lost in a train station in Seoul, Korea at 6 years old, placed in an orphanage, and then adopted by a family in America.
• Mrs. Carrie Bengsten and Ms. Karen Smith and their students provided our guests with language and food demonstrations. French crepe and Japanese pocky lessons were not only fun, but delicious too! Language lessons included: Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Serbian, and Spanish.

Below are newspaper articles detailing the event. Planning has already started for the cultural festival next year: April 25, 2019.

Student Speaker: Ajdin Halilovic
Barberton Middle School 5th grader from Bosnia spoke about his journey to America and how his teachers and friends helped him learn English and acculturate to the American lifestyle. Ajdin said his STEM classes at Barberton will help him reach his dreams of going into computer programming or coding.