PTS International Festival

BY: ELENA MISHKOVSKY '19 & DANIELA ZUBILLAGA '18

PTS Falconer Staff

This Saturday, March 18th, was Palmer’s 17th annual International Festival.

We, Elena and Dani, asked a few people at the festival what their favorite aspects of it were. We received many general answers, such as “The food, definitely the food.” However, we were also surprised and interested to learn about each person’s favorite booths and about their special connections with the festival.

 Jonah Stevens, one of Palmer’s Breakthrough Miami directors, explained that the International Festival was definitely his favorite event put together by Palmer. He enjoyed the fact that so many people of different cultures and backgrounds would come together once a year to celebrate each other’s similarities and differences. Mr. Stevens said that he also enjoyed the fun-spirited vibe that the festival gave off, and was glad that it gave the chance for family, friends, teachers, and students to have a great experience together. He added that his favorite booths were, of course, the Breakthrough Miami booth, Lebanon (because of the amazing spinach pies and grape leaves), Thailand, China, and Brazil.

 Rohan Myers and Katherine Martinez, both tenth grade students here at Palmer, also expressed their views of the festival. Rohan said that his favorite booths were France, because he was a part of the French Honor Society, and Thailand, because of the outstanding Thai iced tea. Katherine had similar positive views. She explained that, because she has Cuban roots, her favorite booth was Cuba and expressed her utter love for their sandwiches. When asked why she likes to go to the festival, she replied, “I like to come here because I like to socialize with my friends and I get to experience the many different cultures.” She was also very enthusiastic about a new booth this year: Sophia Baker’s Agents of Change initiative which promoted equality. “I love Sophia Baker’s initiative because it promotes acceptance and diversity and tries to do away with stereotypes.” Both Katherine and Rohan also added without hesitation that anyone thinking of going to the International Festival next year should definitely go.

 Julia Brand and Ana Paula Zalles, a pair of juniors at Palmer, expressed their opinions of the festival, which were really positive as well. In the case of Julia, this was her first time attending the festival since she is new to Palmer this year. She conveyed how delighted she was with the food and how amazed she was with the cultural diversity of our community. She said that it was a nice way of, "bringing cultures together," as well as appreciating how each is different. Another aspect she brought up was the student involvement at the festival. She was impressed by the number of student volunteers and how most of the booths were run by them without the help of a parent or teacher. On a final note, she said that the teacher dunking activity was definitely a really amusing one that should be repeated each year. Ana contributed with some of her takeaways from the experience. She loved every aspect of the festival and even though she has attended it many times, it never disappoints her. The food, as always, was really delicious and diverse this year. She loved the new additions to the activities and thought that it was a great way to learn about other cultures.