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Last Tuesday (March 29th, 2022), Tahoma hosted its first-ever Culture Fair. This marks the first time Tahoma has offered itself up as a cultural hub for not only the Maple Valley community but other schools around us. A portion of the event was dedicated to the 20 plus cultures, including Ethiopia, Japan, Punjab, Filipino, Kerala, Romani, Germany, Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan, Thailand and Prussian to Indian, that was represented at the event through booths, dances, and music. The other portion of the event contained Tahoma’s first human library, where people could talk with and learn about the unique stories and hardships of local community members, one of many being Dr. Kendra Liljenquist.

Dr. Kendra Liljenquist is an Assistant professor of Pediatrics in the UW school of medicine and primary investigator at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. She went to Tahoma being one of only a handful of African American kids in the entire school and graduated in 2006. After college she swent on to a doctoral program through Boston children’s and Harvard University. She said that she joined the medical field because of how people with different ethnicities may be treated in a hospital. After talking to her, I learned the struggles that she went through and the strong, powerful, confidant, Black woman that she is.

Kendra was a part of the Human Library at the Culture fair where students and community members could talk to people from different backgrounds and countries and hear their experiences. For example, “novels” to choose from included Sith Sinthavong, Makela Stewart-Monroe, Mkristo Bruce, Jolene Grimes-Edwards, Carl Corbett Jr., Ramsis Adam and others who devoted their time to tell us their stories and what they have gone through. I talked to three people myself and I loved how I was able to learn new information about people and cultures. I also heard many people around me saying how they loved the concept. There was not one human novel who didn’t have anybody at their table. In fact, there were lines of people waiting for the opportunity.

The cultural representatives running the booths brought food and items that are representations of their culture. For example, the Ube cake at the Philippines booth. Delicious! In addition, each booth had trifolds informing readers about the respective cultures including customs and traditions, holidays, and much more. Before the event had officially started people at the event were welcomed into the PAC to watch cultural representatives perform significant cultural dances. For example, there were two traditional Indian dances and a Philippines traditional dance with bamboo sticks. The band was also present at the event to perform traditional songs from a wide variety of cultures. 

The event was a collaborative effort between the Tahoma High School Equity group, headed by Tony Davis, and its counterpart, the Tahoma School District Student Equity Team, headed by Aliyah Nesru and supervised by Carrie Burr. The groups wanted to highlight the importance of cultural diversity and awareness in our school. By allowing students and community members to learn about the cultures of their peers in a safe and respectful environment we are all able to grow and treat each other with kindness. The fair also allows students of all cultures in Tahoma to have a voice and represent their culture in a way that they believe is right.

In addition to the Human Library and the Culture Fair,  food trucks were also at the event with food ranging from Pizza (Cascadia Pizza) to Indian treats and delicacies (TCakes) to further entice the public to attend and boy did people show up. The fair was an amazing success with people from in and outside of Maple Valley including one of our own Tahoma School Board Representative Pete Miller who called the event “a special evening and a great launchpad for future events”. In fact, the Culture Fair and Human Library were so successful, there were so many people it was hard to move through the hallways. It will now be an annual event for Tahoma and a date is already being selected for next year.

The Culture Fair amazing.  It brought together the various identities and cultures in our own community and will continue to do so for many more years to come.

*Embedded Photos Taken By Adaline McDowell