Celebrating and showing off your culture is a great way to get to know about the world around you and connect with people from other areas in the world. At Cambridge Academy of Science and Technology (better known as CAST), students have dressed up in cultural attire from all over the world, from South America all the way to the deep depths of Asia. It was a day of cultural exploration and celebrating our differences.

The event was created by the prom committee to allow Year 11 and Year 13 students to raise money for their upcoming prom at the end of June. The students had brought in a variety of cultural foods, ranging from intricate South Asian dishes, such as pakoras, to common dishes from the UK, such as cakes. There was also henna available to be applied, as well having your flag painted on your face. Collectively, the students had raised £538 selling dishes throughout year groups.

Culture day is an amazing way to celebrate differences from around the world and is an exciting opportunity to learn about how festivities and celebrations differ across the globe, which can allow for people to learn about new ways to celebrate a holiday and allow them to try it out for themselves. It can also help students foster a sense of community and promote unity amongst other students. Culture day can also teach students the diversity that can occur in a country. For example, in CAST, there were over 50 different cultures that all came together to celebrate this special day and help educate other students as to why they celebrated a festival a certain way, or to show off their food and clothing.

Yashaswini Reddi, a student at CAST, had very strong, positive words on this event,

“Personally, I thought culture day was a fun and engaging experience throughout all the years, as it was great to gain an insight on the different cultures people are a part of. Additionally, this was part of the prom fundraiser, in which we’ve made over £500. This will certainly help in making prom an enjoyable and memorable experience for all!”

Ömerhan Ayyılıdz, also a student at CAST, also had a positive view on the event,

“Personally, I believe that the cultural attire and food was amazing, and it was great being able to see the cultural diversity from across the world”.