The Trinity College School community is like a beautiful tapestry, enriched by the many cultures and identities that we are fortunate to share amongst our students, staff, alumni and parents. In this spirit of celebrating cultural diversity, student groups at Trinity College School banded together to present the annual International Day on Friday, April 12th. Throughout the day and into the evening, we learned about and honoured the many cultures that comprise our school community.
A special chapel service in Cirne Commons got the day started, including the parade of nations. Each year, this aspect of the program seems to grow as students and staff are eager to share knowledge about the countries they come from or identify with. This year, 32 countries were represented: 27 by students and five by staff. Each group wore clothing or colours to signify their country and provided interesting facts to be displayed on the big screen about their country related to aspects such as art, music, cuisine, entertainment, fashion, demographics, politics, social structures and more. Following chapel, all of the parade participants gathered for a group photo.
Throughout the day, all Senior School students were invited to take part in a non-uniform day where they could wear traditional clothing or colours associated with their countries of choice. During lunch and dinner in Osler Hall, the culinary services team worked to present an international selection of cuisine, from Mediterranean souvlaki to African jollof rice.
In the evening, a new event was added to the schedule with an International Coffee House hosted in Cirne Commons. It was a wonderful night of performances, including several student-musicians singing, playing guitars or drums, on songs representing cultures including Canada, China and the U.K. A special treat was the wonderful Salsa dance routine performed by Spanish teacher Maria Velasquez-Lábrecque and her friend from Colombia.
International Day was led by students from the Cultural Awareness Group, working in collaboration with the Caribbean Council and Cultural Hub. These students worked very hard not only the day of the event, but also in the weeks leading up to it, through planning and promoting the day. They were supported by many within the community, including Mrs. Rachel Stephens (CAG faculty advisor), Mr. David Ioannou (music teacher), the culinary services and facilities & IT services departments, and school leadership.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to an enlightening celebration of the rich diversity we are so privileged to enjoy at TCS!
Click on the links below for multimedia from International Day:
