Students Celebrate International Day

Students representing more than two dozen nations Thursday celebrated the Rinaldi Adult Center’s 15th annual International Day.

“Welcome to the United Nations of the San Fernando Valley,” Elaine Portnoy, assistant principal at the Granada Hills campus, told participants.

About 100 English as a Second Language students representing such lands as Korea, China, El Salvador, Columbia, Thailand, Iran, Indonesia, Ecuador, Argentina, Armenia and Mexico participated in skits, song and dance numbers and other performances.

“International Day is a chance for our adult students to show one another and our staff the beauty of their own cultures,” Portnoy said. “What’s unique about this school is that we have students here from several different cultures as opposed to one or two predominant cultures.”

The program included magic tricks and a Tae Kwon Do demonstration.

Following the show, students and faculty browsed around the classrooms, which were decorated with furnishings, artifacts, travel posters, clothing and furniture from the various cultures, followed by lunch consisting of cuisine from the different cultures.

“I think the best thing about today is that I get to see the best of other cultures,” said Treewan Kulpaya , a resident of North Hollywood, who performed a dance from her native Thailand. “There were some things I never knew before and it’s very beautiful.”