The school’s annual Multicultural Week took place with 10 affinity groups each receiving a 30-minute slot during lunch break to celebrate their cultures May 4, all from the comfort of their own homes.

Affinity groups host Multicultural Week meetings

The Zoom meetings, which were open to all students, ranged from relaxed conversations to interviews and film marathons.

Gender and Sexuality Awareness Club  hosted a show-and-tell in which students talked about the significance of items in their rooms, such as LGBTQ pride flags and childhood memorabilia. GSA leader Alexandra Du Manoir ’21 expressed the importance of these club meetings.

“I know not all schools have a GSA [club], and I think ours has a lot of reach,” Du Manoir said. “The school does a lot of things to promote and finance events, reach out to other schools and build a community. Having that type of support from your school when you’re my age means a lot. It means that the school is validating your identity and making you feel supported.”

Students bond during virtual gatherings

GSA member Tali Tufeld ’20 said that the visibility that the club offers influenced her and her peers positively when they were younger.

“For kids who are questioning their identity or sexuality, just having a group like GSA on campus and knowing that there are other kids and faculty members they can go to and just seeing [the GSA community] exist is really significant,” Tufeld said.

Latin American and Hispanic Student Organization member Sarah Rivera ’21 said that the affinity group has made a difference in her life over quarantine despite her inability to attend the meetings in-person.

“I think it’s important to celebrate Multicultural Week especially now,” Rivera said. “Since you’re constantly on the internet without interaction, it’s easy to lose yourself and where you stand in all this. This could be counted as an identity crisis, so I think it’s important to still be celebrating who you are.”