Freedom High’s 3rd annual Multicultural Festival on Friday, the 16th, was more than just another school event. Parents and students experienced the benefits of diversity and learned about other cultures besides their own.

The food, the dancing and the décor perfectly captured aspects of lifestyles around the world.

Jasmin Noor, 12, spent the night representing Italy and France. She presented dozens of unique dishes, such as chocolate truffles and cannolis.

Noor stated, “I love how the festival represented and united different people from different backgrounds. A lot of cultures aren’t always given the spotlight.”

Freedom consists of 1,943 students, 26% Black or non-Hispanic, 32.5% Hispanic, 31.9% White, 4.5% Asian or Pacific Islander and 0.1% American Indian or Alaskan Native.

The diversity within Freedom’s campus brought families that attended the festival to not only learn about other cultures, but share their own customs as well.

Mansi Patel, 11, represented India at the festival. She offered henna tattoo designs at her station, making it one of the most popular tables.

Patel claimed, “I think the festival is important in order to bring awareness to certain countries. For example, there’s a lot more to India than being a third world country.”

The festival began with a walk-through of every country and concluded with a presentation of performances by FHS students, ranging from song and rap to dance.

Deilany Garcia, 9, represented Puerto Rico by performing a Latino dance with her classmates with songs from her childhood.

Garcia stated, “I love everything about Puerto Rico and I was very happy to dance with my friends in front of a huge crowd.”

Some cultures represented at the festival surprised the students.

Catherine Weng, 12, represented the American Sign Language club with a booth presenting Deaf culture and basic signs. Weng even performed a moving piece with Marigny Duga, 12, and Grace Nobles, 10, where they interpreted the lyrics to Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus with sign language.

“I was really proud to bring ASL into the spotlight at the Multicultural Fest,” noted Weng. “I wanted to show people that ASL is really fun to learn, and helps you communicate in such a different way.”

The Multicultural Festival will come again next year with the same positive energy, education and entertainment.