School District Celebrates Its Diverse Cultures

The courtyard at the Board of Education building downtown was awash in colors Wednesday, as representatives of more than two dozen Los Angeles schools--including four in the San Fernando Valley--sang, danced and clapped to music from all over the world.

Hundreds of students, teachers and administrators gathered in the grassy yard in celebration of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s second annual Multicultural Unity Day, which was created to foster appreciation for the diverse cultures that make up district schools.

On a makeshift stage at one end of the courtyard, which was decorated with paper streamers and a rainbow of balloons, 15-year-old Josephine Roberto kicked off the event.

Dressed in an oversized sweat shirt and baggy pants, the 10th-grader at Van Nuys High School’s performing arts magnet awed the audience with her powerful voice as she sang “We Are the World.”

“It’s really an honor to be here,” said Josephine, who was born in the Philippines and began singing when she was 2 years old. “I like knowing that all kinds of people are here.”

Students from Valerio Street Elementary in Van Nuys, George Ellery Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills and Langdon Avenue Elementary in North Hills joined the festivities, performing a Japanese Sakura song, a Korean fan dance and an Aztec-inspired folk dance.

Wearing red lipstick and homemade headdresses of pheasant feathers, the Azteca dancers from Langdon Avenue shook metal maracas and anklets made of dried seeds as they danced to the steady beat of a drum.

Between performances, the costumed students explored dozens of tables that were stacked with pamphlets, maps, artifacts and flags from different countries.

Derlyn Pinero, an 11-year-old from the Valerio troupe, picked up a colored pamphlet on El Salvador that he planned to bring home to his mother, who was born in that country.

“We can all learn from different people,” the sixth-grader said. “That way there could be peace.”