Students and staff from The New England Center for Children’s (NECC) Southborough campus recently had the opportunity to “travel the world.” On June 18, the Education Department hosted its second annual World’s Fair, a fun celebration featuring projects, cultural items, and cuisine from the home countries of NECC students and staff. This year, the World’s Fair represented 45 different countries.
Held in the Student Library, the event attracted over 50 attendees who engaged with the displayed projects created by eight NECC teams (Cohort E, all four ITT apartments, Saddle Hill, Salem End Road, and Ursla Drive). Three staff members also shared about their cultures: Tinashe Ganyau represented Zimbabwe by bringing traditional clothing and the mbira wooden instrument, Vessie Gajes brought homemade pastilla candies from the Philippines, and Hiu Xing Teo contributed Malaysian cuisine alongside a detailed poster about dim sum.
“The World’s Fair is meant to highlight the diversity within the NECC community,” shared Amanda Hartley, MSEd, education specialist at NECC. “The event provides an opportunity for staff and students to come together to celebrate their home countries and learn about different cultures directly from those who have lived in them.”
Leading up to the event, Hartley shared that teams learned about the origins of other countries by engaging in interactive activities. Students in ITT 1 explored South Korean cuisine by making pickles and kimbap, while ITT 4 learned how to make pasta in the Italian tradition. Saddle Hill celebrated Mexico with a fiesta, decorating a piñata and their residence with traditional items. Salem End learned about Bosnian culture, and Ursla explored Malaysian dim sum traditions. Cohort E highlighted the diverse backgrounds of their team’s staff and students, which includes representation from Argentina, Brazil, China, Greece, England, France, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Turkey, as well the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
“It was nice to see students recognizing their friends on other posters, learning about different cultures, and interacting with each other,” said Hartley.
One of the highlights of the World’s Fair was the variety of ethnic foods available for sampling. Offerings included Malaysian dim sum, Korean kimbap, English crumpets, Italian pizzelles and pasta, Filipino pastillas candies, Israeli matzos, Colombian cookies, Brazilian pão de queijo, Argentinian plantain chips, Bosnian burek, Japanese seaweed chips, Taiwanese green onion pancakes, and Indian Parle G cookies.
“I was so impressed with all of the recommendations for dishes to provide at this year’s World’s Fair,” added Hartley. “Having these dishes on hand and being able to taste and smell and see them in person truly elevated this event and made it a completely unique experience for those who attended.”