Spring Colors Event Drew Scores Of Students And Families To Parkland High School

On Saturday afternoon, a time when most high school hallways are relatively empty, elementary school students and their families filled the cafeteria at Parkland High School during the annual Spring Colors Festival.

The event, sponsored by the high school's Cultural Awareness Club, brings students from elementary schools within the Parkland School District to the high school for an afternoon of activities aimed at promoting multicultural awareness from a young age.

“I really hope this will open their eyes and help them see more than someone’s physical appearance,” said senior Josh Worrill, who co-chaired the event. “I hope they learn something here so if they ever come across someone from another culture or background, they’ll have a way to relate to them and realize that they aren’t so different after all. It encourages them to get out there and try different things. This is where we start that.”

Parkland High School Assistant Principal Harrison Bailey served as the master of ceremonies for Spring Colors, occasionally taking over the microphone to announce an upcoming game of musical chairs or a hip-hop dance lesson, a sampling of the activities that were offered.

“The purpose of Spring Colors is to educate people about different backgrounds,” explained Parkland High School sophomore and club member Victoria McCarter. "We want to teach younger children about different cultures and ways of life, but we want to make it a fun experience for them.”

Although the event was sponsored by Cultural Awareness Club, student representatives from the Spanish Club, Peer-Assisted Learning Support, Red Cross, Cooking Club and the softball team each had their own table in the cafeteria and were given the chance to get creative with their displays.

For the French club, this meant offering kid-friendly crafts and French cuisine to supplement their information board. High school members helped kids build a model of the Eiffel Tower out of marshmallows and toothpicks, while a team of four prepared crepes with banana and Nutella.

The Spanish Club decorated their display with maracas and a stuffed Chihuahua, while some members danced around the cafeteria wearing sombreros and ponchos to generate some traffic to their station.

Peer-Assisted Learning Support (P.A.L.S.) is a club dedicated to outreach to people with physical and mental disabilities. Senior Jess Hillegass and her fellow P.A.L.S. club members used the Spring Colors event as a way to give attendees a feel for what it’s like for someone with a physical handicap by offering sign language lessons and the chance to read Braille.

“I think it’s important to realize that kids with disabilities are not that different. There’s no difference in personality between kids with disabilities and everybody else, and we’re here to help people understand that,” she said.

The Cultural Awareness Club used a passport program to ensure attendees visited every club’s station. As students arrived, club members handed them "passports" that could be stamped at each station.

A completed passport earned kids a stop at the prize table, where they could choose from colorful trinkets such as pencils, bouncy balls, erasers and bracelets. Although prizes were an added bonus, the real takeaway for students was what they had learned.