September 23 marked the Cultural Club of Old Rochester’s inaugural meeting. This club had over 50 students at the first meeting and looks forward to expanding from here. As an affiliate chapter of the Cultural Clubs of America, Inc. (CCA), our students will attend educational field trips and conferences with other Southcoast school chapters. The group seeks to raise awareness of cultures, educate students about different life experiences, and unite students across different schools. Our chapter is run by Senora Diana Carreira and was introduced to ORR by Cultural Club of America, Inc. CEO/Founder Edward Gonet IV.
The students started off the meeting with an activity involving potatoes. Students were instructed to make friends with their potato and get to know them. Then, they mixed up the potatoes and tried to find their original one. Remarkably, students were able to find their original potato. The moral of this activity was “Perhaps potatoes are a little like people. Sometimes, we lump people of a group all together. When we think, ‘They’re all alike,’ we are really saying that we haven’t taken the time or thought it important enough to get to know the person. When we do, we find out everyone is different and special in some way, just like our potato friends.”
Students were also given the opportunity to examine one-thousand-year-old Peruvian artifacts that were donated to Cultural Clubs of America, Inc. They will research the artifacts throughout the year and learn about the items’ backgrounds and heritage.
Their first trip will be to the Brazilian Grille in Dartmouth to celebrate Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month along with other Southcoast Massachusetts CCA Chapters. There will be a Hispanic Guest Speaker and students will learn about the similarities and differences between Hispanic and Latino cultures.
ORR is proud to host a Cultural Clubs of America Cultural Conference with the theme of “Know Your Roots,” starting with an exploration of indigenous cultures in our communities, and also an exploration our personal roots and backgrounds.
Many Old Rochester staff and students are a part of the executive board of Cultural Clubs of America, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit, including Treasurer Michael Nailor, Secretary Emerson Gonet, Director Kelly Ochoa, Director Isabella Hunter, and Director Allison Ward. Other community members including Aliyah Jordan (junior from Tabor Academy), Tabor’s Director of Equity and Inclusion Lorraine Snead, Showstopper’s Performing Arts, Inc. Director Kelly Zucco, and Berklee College of Music Professor Marcelle Gauvin.