Written by Nick Buckley for Battle Creek Public Schools
Springfield Middle School (SMS) students and staff welcomed families and community members to the Fourth Annual Culture Fair on March 4, highlighting nearly a dozen cultures represented in the Battle Creek community.
Students prepared for the event by researching cultures, creating visual displays and helping plan the logistics. The fair featured food, community partner booths, student presentations and dance performances throughout the school.
Keri Hamlin, a multilingual educator at SMS, said students each chose a country to research and built a suitcase-style project to share what they learned.
“They each picked a country to research and they created a suitcase, and if you open the suitcase you ‘travel’ to that destination,” Hamlin explained. “They spent a week researching and then a week making the projects. They learned about the traditional clothing, the traditional food and they made a map.”
The program also included a spoken word performance from Daja Excel Johnson, “The Symphony We Make.”
“I want to talk to y’all about culture. There are a lot of things going on in the world,” Johnson told attendees. “I feel like it’s time for all of us to put our differences aside, to come together, show power through love, unity, peace.”
Sierra Blair, organizer and teacher at Springfield Middle School, said the event reflects the school’s focus on connection and celebration.
“The theme is culture,” Blair explained, “because culture connects us and that’s what we’re celebrating; all the things that are unique and different about us.”
