On Monday, Feb. 16, during Richard Montgomery’s International Night, the halls echoed with the sound of a large bustling crowd that hurried from table to table to sample the delicious cuisines of the diverse cultures that make up the school.

International night was an idea devised by senior Natalie Marmelstein the previous year as the schoolwide secretary of RM. “I went to College Gardens, which is one of our cluster schools, and I remember at their international night, there would be all these foods, and it was the best thing ever,” she said. “When I looked into it at RM, I realized that we weren’t doing it last year… so I decided that it would be my little personal project.” 

The idea of the event is for clubs and students representing different cultures to hold performances, make presentations and bring their own cuisine for an evening of cultural diffusion and learning. As an elementary-schooler, Marmelstein recalls how the food was the main highlight of the event, allowing her to learn the history and stories of different cultures while enjoying a delicious bite. This was something that she successfully brought to RM’s rendition. “I really love that we’re able to bring everybody together with the food, because that’s kind of what draws people to the tables. They go and grab the food, and then they get to learn all about the culture that they’re taking food from,” she said. “International night is a really unique opportunity to be able to learn about other cultures… It’s a really unique opportunity to showcase the rich diversity that our community brings and to see everybody come together in a peaceful, celebratory manner.”

Despite her initial worry about starting a new event from the ground up, the inaugural international night was a smashing success with over 500 attendees. “Going into it last year, I really had no idea if anybody would show up because it was our first time ever doing this. So this year, the planning process was a bit easier because I wasn’t really making it up as I went. I already had a framework set out,” she said. This year, Marmelstein is the head of the special functions committee of SGA where she is responsible for planning school events like the pep rally and homecoming. The volunteers helping her plan, outreach and setup for the event are also people from the SGA class.

Planning for the event began at the beginning of the year where the students set a date to reserve the building space because such an expansive event would require the entire first floor. They also coordinated with Joe Jelen, the Magnet Coordinator, to host it in conjunction with the IB Parents Night, so that prospective families could witness the strong international community that the International Baccalaureate program offers. They then planned with security, building services and Andrew Potvin, the technical director, to make sure any logistics such as sound and lighting for performances were seen to. Two months out, they entered the outreach stage where they advertised and contacted community members to persuade them to sign up to share their culture. The final step was to advertise the event to the community, including to Julius West and the feeder elementary schools. 

One of the clubs at the event was the African Student Union with founders and presidents seniors Gehane Ekory and Liyema Bomvu helping run the stand. Bomvu was personally born and raised in South Africa, immigrating to the United States in 2016. Her favorite part of her culture is the food with flavorful dishes such as a traditional chicken boiled for the whole day, and chakalaka, a dish similar to chili. Ekory is Congolese and says she’s especially fond of the innovative music—such as waist dancing and rumba—in her country which has had a huge impact on music history. 

Relatively new and established winter this year, the union decorated a trifold and a table, hoping to spread awareness about African culture and promote their club. “It’s a club uniting all African students. We are Caribbean friendly and anyone from the north, from the south, from the east,” Bomvu said. With many other more regional-specific clubs at RM, the goal of ASU is to unite all of their members at large collective meetings. “We decided to start this club as a way of making people feel safe, especially when they come from Africa, to feel comfortable. We’re going to also talk about issues that are not being taught in the school curriculum, for instance, the genocides in Congo in South Sudan.”

Freshman Isabel Woldeab came with her mother to display her Eritrean culture with an informational tri-fold that they made. She was not affiliated with a club but took the opportunity to share about her heritage regardless. “My culture is Eritrea, which is on the Horn of Africa. It’s a small country of a population of about 3 million, and we have a very diverse background. Some fun facts are: soccer is our most popular sport, the two main religions are Christianity and Islam and we’re the best country ever,” she said. “My favorite parts about my culture are our family values. We care a lot about the people close to you, and family bonding. And our food is really, really amazing and flavorful. So that’s one of my favorite parts.” 

With nine main ethnic groups, Woldeab is part of the Tirinya group as a Christian woman. “I wear a zuria which is a traditional Eritrean and Ethiopian dress. Typically, Tigrinya Christian women would wear it,” she said. “I’m also wearing a shash which is a headscarf they would use as a head covering in church or just to keep warm. And I’m wearing gold jewelry.”

Senior Naomi Kiawu returned this year after presenting at the first international night. Along with a friend, she created a trifold to represent Sierra Leone. “[Sierra Leone] is on the west coast of Africa…We’re a vibrant country. We have a very unique culture, very unique landscape… It’s a diverse country as well. There’s different languages, different ethnic groups, different religions and that’s what makes Sierra Leone so beautiful,” she said. Personally, her father is from the Mende group and her mother is Kono. “I think Sierra Leone is such a small country. When people think of Africa they think of Nigeria, those bigger countries. I think it’s important that we know that there is more to Africa than just the four or five big countries because it is a continent of 54 countries.” 

For visitors, she prepared a tray of rice as well as a bowl of stew to accompany it. “Cooking is something I’ve always enjoyed doing… It’s just bringing it to school, and it’s relaxing for me,” she said. “I think the first time I learned it, I watched my mom make it. And then I changed it for my own taste… I tone up the spices a little bit as well as make sure it’s a little bit richer because I do like a lot of flavor in my own stew.” 

Juniors Arisa Collin and Riya Gowda also brought traditional food to give out to students stopping by. “I thought it was a good way to engage with the school community, and I thought it would be just fun,” Collin said. Collin, who is Japanese herself, made a sushi mix recipe that she learned from her mother as well as traditional shrimp chips. “It’s easy to make but it’s sushi, and I know sushi is representative, so I brought that.”

Collin and Gowda are also the presidents of the Japanese Culture club at RM. Members go on an annual trip to D.C. where they earn SSL hours as well as attend meetings where they watch Japanese films and make origami. 

Junior Kimberly Lee, along with her parents and a family friend, created a table to represent the culture of South Korea. “We made a stand that represents South Korea, and it talks a bit about traditional Korean culture, different aspects of Korea like K-music or K-drama, or K-food,” she said. “And then we’re offering baram-tteok and it’s a type of rice cake, so we’re offering that as a little sweet treat for people to come and enjoy.” For the food, they partnered with a local Korean shop that offers catering services.

“I think my favorite aspects of Korean culture are definitely the food. I definitely like a lot of Korean food. But other than that, I really like the traditional aspects of Korea, especially like hanboks, and traditional Korean clothing is also very interesting to me. I think it’s very beautiful,” Lee said. “ I think it’s important to spread every culture… It raises awareness about what your culture is, and it allows people to learn more while having fun. That’s why it’s super important to spread Korean culture to my fellow peers and classmates and friends.”

And while Lee didn’t perform anything representing South Korea, she was part of the RM Dance Club ensemble that gave an energetic rendition of “Antifragile,” by the K-Pop group Le Sserafim.

Another one of the clubs that set up a table for the evening was National Chinese Honor Society, led by their president senior James Zhang. “International night is a very important event for Richard Montgomery, so we brought some traditional Chinese candies,” Zhang said. “We’re going to have a brief cultural presentation for the people visiting us. I think that Chinese people represent a very large part of Richard Montgomery, so I think that they should be accurately represented. Our club does that through the activities that we have planned.”

RM’s Tea Club also represented Asian culture at international night. “I thought it was a good idea for us to be here for international night because we represent a lot of different cultures and parts of the world in tea club,” Charles Holt, the sponsor of the club, said. “We have meetings every few weeks and sample teas. And there have been teas from East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. I think we’ve done some Middle Eastern tea before too. I think it’s a great representative group for international night.” The club presented an informational tri-fold and also brought a kettle of white tea from China, as well as traditional crackers to accompany the drink.

At the end of the night, students and their families gathered in the cafeteria for a series of cultural performances. This included the Chinese Instrument Club which was founded by junior Jing Yi Yang, who plays the Guzheng, in her freshman year. She’s been learning now for three years. The club has seven members and holds rehearsals during lunch. “I wanted to spread the Chinese culture through music and melodies,” she said. “I think through the lens of music and melodies, there’s no bias, it’s just pure melodies that you know everyone can enjoy and understand.” 

She performed a duet with junior Sophie Zheng titled “琵琶語,” which roughly translates to language of the pipa. Zheng, who plays the pipa, or Chinese lute, has been playing on and off since fourth grade. “I think that we have such a big instrumental program dedicated to Western music at RM and I think that it’s great,” Zheng said. “But I think having a Chinese instrument club as well is just a cool addition.” 

Other performers were the RM Dance Club, which gave a cultural dance, Bollywood Dance Club, whose members danced popular Indian songs, ASL, which signed a country ballad, and Ms. Deeny, who led students in song. Finally, the evening ended with an energetic and crowd-pleasing medley of “Cool With You,” and “Love Dive,” by RM K-Pop Dance Club, a newly formed club that has had a series of successful performances at many school events.

One of the most popular performances of the night was by senior Luis Pizo who gave a traditional Bolivian dance. The dance, called Caporales, originated in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia in 1969 after being performed by the Estrada Brothers. It was inspired by African and Spanish culture and since has been known as the national dance of Bolivia. There are many groups that are centralized in Bolivia that ship out outfits to dancers throughout the world—Pizo is one of the event coordinators in his local DMV group.

“I started around six years old, and ever since I came to the US, my family’s has been really Bolivian oriented, and we wanted somewhere where we can connect with our own community, even if we’re far away,” he said. “[Immigrating] was a very difficult experience. Our first time here, we didn’t know a single word of English, but we adapted to it. We have had the help of the Bolivian community through online resources and much more.” 

Pizo appeared completely confident as he kicked and leapt around with his hat in his hands, bells from his costume jingling. It’s because he’s danced this many times before—his group is invited to many international night, parades and cultural events. It’s also his second time performing at RM because he was featured in the first international night’s lineup. “I like how it’s very traditional, very cultural, and very colorful. The outfits are very unique. We have some of the best dances around the world.”