The Multicultural assembly was created to showcase cultural diversity within ELHS and the East Lansing community. This year’s show took place on Feb 7. During the assembly, performances like the lion dance, the walk of flags, and the fashion show were revisited from previous years. But some new acts, with new stories behind them, were also featured. 

The perfect poem:

While growing up in America, paraprofessional Somer Ramadan would visit her family in Palestine every summer. When she visited, she immersed herself in culture, and felt her identity strengthen. Now, those visits inspire her to stand up for justice in the country. In August 2024, after spending many months grieving the bombings in the Gaza Strip, she felt compelled to write a poem about Palestine’s beauty. 

“Everything that happened and still is happening hurts my heart and soul,” Ramadan said “I was grieving because of what was happening and felt hopeless not [being] able to do anything for my people.”

Ramadan first met Dalia AbedAlqadi (10) and Razan Mady (10) at an Islamic school through a track program. AbedAlqadi admitted to her that she didn’t like to tell people she was Palestinian. This lit a fire in Ramadan. She was determined to help her embrace her heritage

“She was like, ‘I’m afraid to say I’m Palestinian,’” said Ramadan. “And I said, ‘Don’t be afraid. I don’t care what anybody says. Stand up for who you are and what you believe in.’”

When AbedAlqadi and Mady told Ramadan that they wanted to perform something for the multicultural assembly, she had the perfect poem already written for them. 

“It was so beautiful,” said AbedAlqadi. “It really talked about what’s happening there and it’s really significant to me, so just being able to share that out there to everyone feels really good.” 

For AbedAlqadi, the auditions were nerve-wracking.

“Our plan is to memorize the poem, so we don’t have to read it off a phone,” said AbedAlqadi. “While I was there, I kind of forgot a line, but I quickly remembered at the last second.”

The social pressure also added on to her anxiety over the audition and recital.

“I was also nervous about how people would react to me reading a poem like that since they could be against it,” said AbedAlqadi.

On the day of the performance, they felt tense about having to perform on stage. As the show began and the lights dimmed, the anxiety lingered. But when they walked onto the stage, they found comfort in the atmosphere. Looking out onto the crowd of students and teachers, something shifted as the energy of the moment built up. AbedAlqadi’s nervousness faded away when she noticed the darkness behind the stage lights coated over the audience.

After reciting the poem, the audience’s reaction was an unexpected surprise. 

“I didn’t expect there to be that much applause,” AbedAlqadi said.

Singing for home:

When Pranjal Prithvi (12) left his home country of Bangladesh in July 2023, he made an oath that he would spread his culture wherever he went. When the multicultural assembly came around, he knew just the song to share, “Tomar Ghore Bose.”

A folk song he heard from his father perfectly described the pride he feels as a Bangladeshi.

“This song depicts how we live in Bangladesh,” Prithvi said. “The way we fought for our language and our country.”

Recent political events sparked a new kind of inspiration in Privthi “The people of Bangladesh went through a lot of hardships lately because of the government and student protests. I wanted to reflect this in my singing.” 

Prithvi found these protests fascinating. Seeing a younger population stand up to a corrupt government was inspiring, and he carried that feeling with him going into his performance. His love for his homeland grew beyond the need to impress his peers. 

“It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, I just want to perform, ” Prithvi said. “I don’t care about others, if people will judge me, I can take their opinions.”

While auditioning, Prithvi didn’t feel nervous at all. He was proud to share the story of his way of life. But on the day of the assembly, anxiety overcame him about performing on stage for the first time in front of a large audience. When he finished the show, he initially thought people weren’t going to understand his language, but the audience’s reaction surprised him. 

“I was amused that people actually shouted,” said Prithvi. “And how they seemed amazed about my performance afterwards.”

A roaring tradition:

For the past three years, the multicultural assembly has included a traditional performance commonly seen across Asia: the Lion Dance. A lion dance is when two performers don a lion costume and dance to music, mimicking a lion’s movements.

“[It] has been performed for over 1,000 years. It is a traditional dance in Chinese culture and other Asian cultures,” Asian Student Union club member, Ben Lu (10) said. “It’s performed during Lunar New Year, grand celebrations, and important events to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits.”

Newman Liao (10) and Ankhang Tran (11)  were convinced to do the dance when they were freshmen by graduateds upperclassmen Bangsheng Lu and Eric Phan, and felt they needed to carry on the tradition.

“You realize how cool it is to show the school your culture,” Tran said. “You’ll want to carry it on and do it again.” 

Like Bangsheng and Eric, Tran also had to convince his friends to perform with him in order to continue the tradition.

“I called Ben two days before auditions,” Tran said. “I was like, ‘Hey, you’re gonna be a part of this.’“

Despite Tran’s harsh recruiting, Ben found the experience rewarding.

“Carrying on the tradition of the Lion Dance has been incredibly meaningful to me, both physically and emotionally,” Ben said. “It spreads joy and has a great community impact, representing the Asian American students at our school.”

On the day of the assembly, newer club members like Joliena Phan (11) were nervous to go on stage while more experienced members like Liao felt confident. Overall, the group was excited to perform. Joliena felt her experience performing as a lion was similar to acting. On stage, in the heat of the moment, she had to stay in character in order to deliver an entertaining performance.

“I was mostly thinking of being aggressive looking with really sharp movements,” said Joliena. “You can’t be smooth and graceful; you have to be staticky.”

Liao and Ben both tried to focus on what they had gone over in rehearsal. Liao noted that they didn’t have a lot of time to practice, which added to some of the nervousness.

“We were trying to figure everything out at the last second, because our leader was struggling,” Ben said. “After that was done with, I could finally rest a little.” 

After their performance, they all high fived backstage, and received a flood of positive feedback about their dance. 

“It was such a huge ego boost,” said Joliena. “Everyone was coming up to me, telling me how cool the performance was, and that everyone was proud of me.”