International program coordinator, Brooke Stobbe, plans a Christmas themed party for the FC international high school students, Dec. 11.
These students, mostly from China, bring in some of their own culture into the holiday with Chinese food accompanied by a traditional American meal, hamburgers.
Gift exchange, festive decorations and a photo booth with Christmas props filled the room as students participated in, what could be, their first Christmas party.
Since many international students do not celebrate this holiday, Stobbe throws this gathering at lunch to connect them with customs held in America. She shares a little about her goal and hopes for them as they become more familiar with Christmas.
“It’s discreet, but without them really realizing, they’re taking a bit of ownership of this holiday that they largely don’t identify with, and making it their own,” Stobbe said. “They’re celebrating a religious and cultural tradition of someone else, without having the American students there to lead them. They’re owning it, they’re adopting our traditions and our culture, and it’s one of those little ways I’m encouraging them to integrate but not lose their own identity. It’s the same idea as teaching them to speak great English, but not wanting to take away their accents.”
She wants her students to learn how to engage in events as well as feel welcome and a part of the school. She believes the involvment in activities such as this, will help bring the internationals closer to the domestic students.
Another holiday Stobbe celebrates with her students is Chinese New Year Festival. This Chinese holiday helps the other way around and brings other FCS students in the involment of the international student’s cultural traditions.
By trading cultural backgrounds and sharing different lifestyles between one another through these occasions, helps relate students together as a whole. International students show others how to use chopsticks, write characters in their language and holiday activities at booths held in the cafeteria, PC gym.
FC strives to create high school a place where everyone feels welcomed and involved. Stobbe contributes her part with the investment in planning holiday parties and events for her students to feel a partnership in the school with the other high schoolers.
“My goal everyday is to help the international students better integrate into the school, and help them find ownership of FCS,” Stobbe said. “This is their school, not the other kids’ school where they also go. It’s not the place their parents sent them to study, or the place they have to go in the morning.
Stobbe continues her ambition for the students in blending the cultures together to create one community in the high school.
“I want them to integrate, to participate, and see the domestic kids as their peers and classmates,” Stobbe said. “In a perfect world, there is no differentiation between the “international” and “domestic” students. While there will (unfortunately) always be stigma, the more I can help the international students relate to the domestic students, and vice versa with events like Chinese New Year Festival, the more the lines blur, and that’s the goal: for everyone to celebrate their peers as members of the FCS community.”
This is the second annual Christmas party for enrolled International Program students. A total of 20 international students attend FCS.
For more articles on FCS international students cisit: International students share perspective, struggles studying in America.
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