Students learn about different cultures during diversity conference
Karen Peterson
Students learn to play Gaelic football in the gym.
Karen Peterson
Lessons were given in another class on how to use chopsticks.
Karen Peterson
A panel discussion was held in the gym with people representing different countries during a talk about diversity.
Karen Peterson
Samir Bitar and Gabe Anash answer questions from Arlee students during the panel discussion.
Karen Peterson
Arlee student Ezra Roan gets ready to “slurp noodles” after being taught that it is culturally acceptable to do so in Japan.
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ARLEE – Issues concerning diversity were at the heart of a two-day conference at the Arlee High School where students learned about several different countries.
“With race related tensions in our country, it’s important for students to have positive exposure to diversity,” said Anna Baldwin, teacher. “I want them to come away from this with a real idea of what diversity looks like outside the reservation.”
Baldwin organized several workshops with collaborative help from teachers and several students for the event. The first day was filled with activities around film and music, and the second day held discussion and more cultural activities. The project was funded through a grant from the Montana Office of Public Instruction’s Indian Education Division.
On Tuesday, Nov. 7, high school students filled the gym to listen to five people from various groups and backgrounds answer a few questions. Baldwin acted as the moderator.
The panel included: Samir Bitar, Oleg Salimov, Willie Brown, Gabe Ansah and Michael Munson.
Samir Bitar, who teaches Arabic at the University of Montana, is a native Palestinian. For the past several years, he has helped train the Montana National Guard in essential Arabic language and culture skills prior to their deployment.
Oleg Salimov who was born in the former USSR to a Russian father and a Korean mother. He grew up in Tajikistan, Central Asia and moved to the United States in 2006 to study public administration and get a doctorate in interdisciplinary studies.
Willie Brown is from Manawatu, New Zealand with a Jewish and Scottish heritage. He moved to the United States 16 years ago, and acts as a liaison between New Zealand Maori and Native American tribal initiatives. He is currently the administrator for the Native American Studies Department and Native American Center at the University of Montana.
Gabe Ansah is from Ghana, West Africa. He moved to the United States and became a citizen and now works for Residence Life at the University of Montana.
Michael Munson was raised in Missoula and identifies with both her Sqelixw (Salish and Pend d’Oreille) and white background. She serves as a faculty member in the education and Native American Studies departments at Salish Kootenai College.
The panel shared their background and taught the students words in different languages. They talked about their experiences as a minority among different cultural groups.
Salimov said his Russian and Korean background taught him that it is important to learn about different cultural groups to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.
Brown talked to the students about the concept of diversity saying that it was a mixture of differences. He said people don’t have to give up their own cultural identity to be part of a larger mixture of people.
Bitar said “tolerance” for different cultural groups was a 19th Century concept and acceptance was a more evolved form of behavior. He explained that knowledge and education will lead people to realize that “there is only one race, the human race, and it’s very diverse.”
After the discussion, students attended several different workshops to learn about different cultures. A group from Japan took a lighthearted approach to sharing their culture with a demonstration on noodle slurping.
They explained that people don’t slurp noodles in the United States, but they do in Japan. Slurping has a cooling effect on the noodles, and it allows a person to “smell the perfume” of the noodles. Arlee student Ezra Roan took the noodle slurping challenge and received a round of applause for doing so well.
Students also went to the gym to play a popular sport among the Irish called Gaelic football. It is played between two teams trying to kick or punch the ball into a goal, kind of like a mixture of volleyball and soccer.
Will Mesteth, 17, enjoyed learning about developing goals in one group and how to write his name in Arabic in another. He said that learning about different cultures was important to him
“Learning about them helps you understand more about your own culture and accept who you are, and it teaches you to treat other people with respect,” he said.
When the Diversity Conference was finished, Baldwin said the students told her that they thought it was great. One student decided to work on an application to attend an exchange program in Japan to learn more.
