During the month of October, the English Department celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights, through various projects, from storytelling about Diwali to arts and crafts projects to small acts of kindness. In Danielle Lyon’s English class, they read multiple stories about the holiday and they made small decorated utensils. The utensils represented the beginning of the Diwali Holiday, where families buy new decorative cutlery to bring in wealth and prosperity.
“We celebrated by reading three stories about it, and we made utensils and cut them out during our English class,” said Alex Soto (6). It helped me by showing how different cultures and different people celebrate their beliefs because we learnt about all the different steps. It has brought light into my life because I can see different views and how they celebrate their holiday.”
Maria Gonzalez introduced a new project for Diwali into the set of projects that she has been using for years.
“I was inspired by the holiday and by a childhood memory where I had to memorize a poem for school, and it taught me a lot about life,” Gonzalez said. “It is kind of private and is a memory I can share with my students one day. It was a new project that I created. I just envisioned them to go out, do a good deed, be able to talk about it, and feel good about what they did. My students met my expectations and more.”
To represent the light in the darkness, students completed a small act of kindness within their community of something they think is important. The students put their personal spin on the project based on their interests. Some kids gave cookies or banana bread to firefighters, and others spent time at dog shelters.
“I chose to make banana bread for the firefighter project because I believe that they deserve a lot of appreciation because they are so close to our school and can help us in any emergency,” Wystan Allen (8) said. “This Diwali project meant a lot to me because it meant giving back to the community, which is something that helps me become balanced. I feel like this project brought me joy because when I saw the smiles on their faces I felt very good inside. I loved doing this project and I hope she continues to do it.”
