March 27, 2012
A year ago I attended Culture Day as the newly-hired-but-not-yet-in-office President, more than three months before my July 1st start. I came away exhilarated then. My first close observation of the enthusiastic participation of the student body was a powerful affirmation of the Good Counsel community as a whole.
We held this year's Culture Day assembly last Friday. Culture Day reminds us that despite the leveling effect of everyone being clothed in the blue and khaki uniform, at the most fundamental level each of us wears a unique cultural identity to school each day. In celebrating aspects of that unique identity – race, ethnicity, national heritage, shared condition – we bear witness to our mission as a Xaverian Catholic learning community to "promote inclusion of all community members."
Students took center stage to share a rich variety of song and dance. Some looked understandably nervous stepping out in front of their teachers and their peers. Passion, pride and joy helped overcome the butterflies of performers.
More telling than the commitment of these students sharing some vital part of who they are was the way that commitment was received by their peers. The usual buzz of 1,200 teenagers sitting on squeaky bleachers yielded to rapt attention for soloists. Skillful dance moves – hip hop, Tejano, merengue, stepping, Filipino tinikling, Irish – were met with raucous applause. American Sign Language students showed us how to communicate exuberantly through gesture. Our students responded to talent, the courage it takes to take the floor, and the richness of cultures not their own.
Above all, I was impressed by the generosity and the zeal at the heart of Culture Day. It would be easy for our performers to choose to keep their cultural identities under wraps. Instead, they shared with exuberance and trusted in how they would be received by their peers.
And, from the bleachers, the students watching the performers made me proud. If you catch any sitcoms on TV, you know that the culture at large often chooses to "entertain" us with sarcastic jabs at anyone and anything on the margins, that deviates from the norm; it's not cool to be different. Our celebration of Culture Day runs counter to that trend. With loud, spontaneous, kind, genuine and generous support, those seated on the bleachers offered a beautiful endorsement of health of student culture at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School.