What is World Night?

World Night is a night at Shorewood High School held in the commons where different cultural clubs bring various types of food, perform dances, and more.

These clubs showcase the culture that they represent and help people who go to the World Night learn about these cultures and experience them for themselves.

World Night is on March 26 from 6-8 p.m. and is open to anyone who wants to come.

What will you see at World Night?

Performances

At World Night, many different stories will be told, and one way we’re going to see those stories is through performances. The East African club will be doing cultural dances from three different regions/countries, performed by students.

The Jewish Student Union is going to perform a Jewish folk dance.

A Jewish folk dance is a joyous, communal, and often circular movement performed at mostly bat mitzvahs and weddings.

But that’s not the only dance to be performed; the Hispanic-Latino Student Association (HLSA) will be doing a dance that students from any culture can do.

Club members will be teaching a lesson on the dance payaso rodeo, which is a popular Hispanic line dance performed often at birthdays.

There are certain steps you have to follow, and it keeps getting faster each time. But what if we added a little bamboo to it?

Filipino American Student Association, also known as FASA, will be doing a traditional dance called Tinkli, a rhythmic dance that’s done with bamboo sticks. It requires rhythm and time to practice.

Booths

Each club will be having their own booth with a poster of food explaining its culture. Black Student Union will have a poster explaining the diaspora from Africa to America and how it has affected their culture today.

Another booth you will see at World Night is the Hispanic Latino Student Association (HLSA). Their booth is talking about their culture and also talking about upcoming events.

The Taiwanese Culture Club will be doing something a little different. They will be serving samples of the Taiwanese drink boba tea.

They will also serve a Taiwanese snack called Tangyuan, with samples you can get at their table.

What does World Night mean to club leaders?

For most people, World Night has a common theme for connection and cultural sharing.

For Michaela Haile, the Vice President of the East African Club, World Night means people gaining a larger understanding of each other. “To me, World Night means people learning about different cultures, where they come from, where their families come from, and what they do to have fun. Because every culture is different,” Haile said.

It’s also a great way to get to know each other. “It’s a really cool way to exchange language, culture, and food,” said Vanessa Cruz, co-president of HLSA.

Although our school has other culture nights, like Pacific Night, World Night is a great way to focus on all the cultures and have everyone come together.

Fran Luong is the president of FASA and says World Night is a truly relevant event for the current day. “World Night for me means being able to bring a lot of different communities together, especially with the pushback right now on immigration. It’s important to realize that immigrants are what make culture so great. Being able to see minorities and different students at Shorewood is important because it’s not every day we search other’s culture,” Luong said.