The now-PGA-hosted Community Night began in 2018 as a potluck in the Middle School cafeteria. The T.J. Vassar Diversity and Community Group, inspired by initiatives at other schools, had long been planning to host an event of their own. Despite being the first of its kind, it was well-attended; families piled into the cafeteria to explore the different cultural stations and sample various foods from the potluck. Through the years, the event has persevered and evolved, from being hosted on Zoom during COVID-19, to transitioning to the Upper School as proposals and ideas grew increasingly bold. This year’s Community Night was the most ambitious yet.
The night kicked off with a set of performances in the Ackerly Athletics Center, beginning with a parade. Lakeside students and family members, many dressed in traditional garb and waving streamers and flags, filed across the gym to a medley of popular Scottish folk tunes played by Evan M. ’26 and his bandmate Jace E. ’27, a sophomore at Ingraham. In the opening remarks, emcee Junemee Kim (a current parent and alum), Mr. Boccuzzi, and Ms. Abu Rahmeh welcomed the audience to community night, with Ms. Abu Rahmeh in particular reflecting on her view of the Lakeside community as a mosaic. “The mosaic is incredible because of its individualism that is required for it to exist,” she said, “but also the totality that it becomes.”
Following the speeches, four members of LATISPA — Mia S.H. ’26, Cristian S. ’27, Gabriella Y. ’28, and Lucia Y. ’26 — spoke on the history of Bachata, a popular Latin American dance with a medley of Spanish, indigenous Taino and African sounds, and performed a choreography to a song by Romeo Santos and Juan Luis Guerra. Elinor C. ’25 and her father Dale Cumming, on the fiddle and guitar respectively, played a number of traditional Scottish tunes ranging from calm and wistful to animated and buoyant.
The performances segment finished off with an Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Zahra Yasin, a current parent, performed the intricate process, and narrator Noli Seifu (also a current parent) touched on the social, cultural, and spiritual significance of the ceremony. Ms. Bensadon closed by engaging the audience in the Lakeside L-I-O-N cheer, and the crowd dispersed to the fieldhouse.
In the fieldhouse, guests would be greeted with seating in the center, carefully assembled tables to the sides, and a buffet line in the back. One of the highlights of Community Night has always been the food, and this year’s buffet sported a wide variety of dishes, from Korean japchae and tteokbokki, to Indonesian perkedel and klepon, Jamaican bulla, chile rellenos casserole with chorizo, falafel and pork dumplings, and more.
Those craving traditional snacks, sweets, and treats, however, would have headed over to one of the tables stationed around the gym, each representing a different culture. Each table included all manners of items, from informative posters to customary garments to classic trinkets and toys. Each table was manned by table “captains,” who prepared the artifacts, posters, foods, and games in advance, and also worked tirelessly through the night to educate and converse with anyone that came by. Tatler interviewed some of the table captains and asked them questions about their culture, inspirations, and building community.
Why did you choose to captain this table and share your culture with the community?
Leticia Salazar, Elizabeth Berg (Hispanic/Latino Table): Elizabeth and I [are] the parent facilitators for the Latino parent affinity group. One of our goals in this role is to have the students and families who are of Latino descent, including Brazil and Portugal, feel represented here at Lakeside.
Akhila Vithala (Indian Table): I love my culture and I want to share the goodness in my culture. India is known for unity in diversity, and I believe that is what Lakeside is all about, right? We all come together from different cultures yet share in the unity.
Julie Yee, Grace Kim (Korean Table): We felt like it was important for the Korean community. Last year, we saw pictures of how beautiful the layout was, and it seemed like a wonderful celebration of our culture, so we wanted to continue that tradition.
Can you tell me a little bit about your table? What are some key traditions or customs that are significant in your culture?
Mutlu Kurtoglu (Türkiye Table): At our table we have a presentation on some historically important and preserved sites in different parts of Turkey. For example, Cappadocia — it’s beautiful, and feels like it’s from a different galaxy, with all sorts of volcanoes, caves, and fairy chimneys. In terms of traditions, we drink coffee in a very elaborate way, serving it on a decorated tray. Typically when people drink coffee or tea, they play games, like backgammon, or okey, which is a type of card game. We also have an evil eye, which will protect you from all of the evils in the world. All of the families in Turkey will have an evil eye somewhere around their house and cars. And for food, I brought some traditional biscuits — when I was growing up in Turkey as a child, we used to take two slices of biscuit and put Turkish delight in between, almost like a homemade Oreo.
Akhila Vithala (Indian Table): We start our table with our prayer place and a statue of our goddess. She is Saraswati, goddess of education. We pray to her and invoke her with a bell. When somebody comes into our home, we invite them in with this red power by putting it on our foreheads, indicating the forehead is our place of wisdom. By Saraswati is the Bhagavad Gita, a scripture similar to the Bible, along with a dictionary that translates from old Telugu to new Telugu. Diwali is coming up, so we are handing out diyas, which are little bowls that we pour oil in and light.
Saron Zewdi (Ethiopian Table): We have here the traditional food of Ethiopia, teff with injera and the vegetarian sides that go with it. It is gluten free, and vegetarian, though we have a meat portion as well. This wheel basket is called agelgel. As a family, or when you have friends and neighbors come to your house, you use it to hold the injera, which is like a big pancake. We have different kinds of sauce and curries to go with the injera, and we sit together around it and eat.
Julie Yee, Grace Kim (Korean Table): We have posters that show the geography of Korea, along with information about the more recent K-pop phenomenon. This picture is of Kyrell C. ’23, an alum who is part of the K-pop band AMPERS&ONE. By the table we have the hanbok station, which is led by Junemee Kim.
Junemee Kim (Korean Table): Hanboks are the traditional dress of Korea. They are used on special occasions, such as holidays like Lunar New Year and seminal life events like birthdays, weddings, and funerals. Traditionally, hanboks were made of cotton, silk, or hemp, with many accessories. Colors, style, and embellishment denoted rank.
How do you think the sharing of different cultures promotes community?
Leticia Salazar, Elizabeth Berg (Hispanic/Latino Table): I think it’s through education. We see people but often don’t know anything about their food, dress, or history. Seeing the people here in their cultural attire, or with their native foods helps us understand each other more deeply.
Mutlu Kurtoglu (Türkiye Table): It makes me curious. It makes me ask questions, engage with people, and understand the why, what, and how of their values and traditions. Also, by getting to actually participate in some of their culture, I become part of their community and they become part of my community. We share the experience and it brings us together.
Saron Zewdi (Ethiopian Table): The students and families get to know you and your culture. For me, community night is all about tasting and sharing in the feeling of eating other cultures’ foods. Food is something that will always connect us, because eating and cooking is a very universal thing.
Julie Yee, Grace Kim (Korean Table): Having the ability to celebrate your own culture helps you bring your whole self. I think Lakeside really wants to celebrate all dimensions of every student and family, and heritage is part of that. There are not many events where we can have so many families of different backgrounds gathered, so it’s a great opportunity to explore how multifaceted people really are.
In the opening remarks, Ms. Abu Rahmeh spoke about how she sees the school as a mosaic, with every stone and its own identity brought together into a beautiful picture. As the table captains mentioned, there are so many facets to the ways community night strengthens the Lakeside community: in educating, engaging, connecting, and celebrating. Community Night reminds us that our community is beautiful and strong because of, not despite of, our diversity and differences.
