Gabrielle Lim '23
25 January 2022

This school year, Mr. Nelson Colon started the Multicultural Club to provide a space for members to discuss different topics about each other's cultures in an effort to raise cultural awareness. Topics such as games, music, movies, food, and literature are just a handful of themes the club plans to explore.

The Multicultural Club promotes cultural diversity and acceptance to increase students’ knowledge of the different cultures surrounding them. Mr. Colon compiled a group of interactive topics for members to discuss and participate in.  “It is a new club and we’ve only had a couple meetings here and there, but one of the things I feel they take away from it, is that we can learn from each other,” said Mr. Colon  “They’re interacting; they’re learning from each other. It’s not just me telling them about this different thing in culture. It’s about them bringing in their shared experiences.” 

In the past few meetings, students brought games and competed against each other in a series of rounds. In their most recent meeting on January 31, 2022, Mr. Colon and club members discussed music from different cultures. To broaden their knowledge and understanding, they explored Merengue, Reggae, Bachata, and more.

These topics broadened the club members' perspectives on the cultures of their classmates. In the future, Mr. Colon and the club plan to participate in community-based projects and initiatives. “If I were to promote [the] Multicultural Club to a new student, I would say it's a club where new people can meet others and make new friends," said Keila Castillo '23. "The whole point of the Multicultural Club is to bring together people from all over who may or may not share the same interests. We can learn about each other and our cultures while having fun.”

Student response to the club has been steady since the beginning. Students appreciate talking to each other in a safe environment and they continue to enjoy the interactive topics. “I think the club helps PV as another outlet for students to express themselves,” said Castillo. “It's an outlet to talk about our backgrounds and be ourselves apart from the overall culture of Passaic Valley.”