Upper Campus Celebrates World Languages Week for 14th Consecutive Year

Students anxiously awaited admission to the International Food Festival which offered foods from over 14 different countries for everyone to try. While some focused on the tables of their favorite foods, others set out to try every cuisine, all while listening to live world music and discussing their favorite fares with friends during the extended lunch period. Middle School Dean, and beloved Spanish teacher, Ms. Hernandez oversees the logistics of the Food Festival. Her words of advice for students trying to make the most of their luncheon ticket, “You have to eat as you go. While you’re waiting in line for one table, make some room on your plate by eating food from the last table.”

 

This festival has become a favorite tradition at Sierra Canyon. Tom Fennell, SC’s founding language department chair, brought the celebration of National Foreign Language Week to Sierra Canyon in March 2006. National Foreign Language Week was first celebrated in 1957 through the efforts of Alpha Mu Gamma, a national foreign language honor society that promotes academic excellence in the study of foreign languages, at Mount Saint Mary’s in Los Angeles. 

 

The overarching theme of the first celebration at Sierra Canyon was the story of the Tower of Babel, a theme that was returned to this year. The main point of the performance is that human language never stays the same, and even individual languages are always changing and adapting to the culture that we build. 

 

14 years later and Upper Campus students are still enjoying the culture brought to them during World Languages week, with a Quiz Bowl, Peruvian dancers, a stunning reproduction of Pietr Bruegel the Elder's Tower of Babel, (artists headed up by Lauren Nicolaysen ’20 and included Vanessa Zhong ’20, Erin Markham ’21, Wendy Wang ’19, Jessica FitzWilliam ’19, Marissa Johnson ’19 and Liza Gill ’19. Supervised by Mr. Benz), and to culminate the week, a feast fit for a Trailblazer!