Thanks to West Seattle High School teacher Rebecka McKinney for sharing photos and info on a big event this past week – the biggest-ever Diversity Dinner organized by the WSHS Diversity Club, with more than 200 people attending, the largest turnout ever, and performances including members of the wider community as well as students:

The night started at 6 p.m. with a wide variety of cultural food that people brought to share. There were many cultures represented with a variety of dishes that included pad Thai, injera, lasagna, pupusas, pan dulce, rice and beans, lumpia and many more.

“It was a great turnout, even more than I expected,” said senior Diversity Club co-president Emily Fiso. “It was a great atmosphere, seeing different cultures interact with each other.”

After everyone got food, the entertainment began with the WSHS Latino Club.

They performed the punta dance. This group included WSHS seniors Shaneen Walter-Edwards, Brian Silva and Maaza Tsegai.

“It meant a lot to me to be able to perform because there’s not very many Hondurans in Seattle,” said Walter-Edwards. “I was happy to share my culture.”

Next was an Eritrean dance group that performed a Tigrinya dance.

This group included three WSHS students as well.

After the Eritrean dance, the WSHS Chinese class performed a traditional Lion Dance.

Chinese teacher, Su-Chun King, put this performance together.

Mahelet Wondie from Chief Sealth High School followed this with a spoken word piece on Africans and Americanization.

WSHS senior Kate Longabaugh followed that with a traditional Irish dance piece:

Next up was a local mariachi band that was made up of students and adults, some of who attend Chief Sealth:

The Mt. Rainier and Kennedy High School Pacific Islander Club followed this up with two Samoan dances and one Hawaiian dance.

“It was nice to be able to see my own culture represented,” said Fiso, a Samoan student who invited the club to perform. “I like how they brought a different energy to the crowd and everyone was involved.”

The final group of the night was the Northwest Tap Connection African class performing the kuku. This group included performers from age 5-17, led by Ms. Lakema Bell.

“I thought it was really nice that the African dance class could incorporate that type of dancing with people of all ages,” said senior attendee Shaheeda Kariko.

The night ended with a cultural fashion show that represented many of the cultures of WSHS.

This included Irish, Filipino, Somalian, Ethiopian, Yakima Nation, Samoan, Nigerian, Namibian, Eritrean, Moroccan, and Mexican.

“I was really happy to help bring different communities together,” said junior Diversity Club co-president Meron Mulu. “This was the first year we reached out to connections our students had outside of West Seattle. It’s not only important to celebrate culture, but it’s fun.”

See a list of WSHS’s many cultural, service, and interest groups/clubs on the school website.