Day of Cultural Sharing

Sundance Vacations has locations throughout the country.  We are committed to the surrounding communities of all of our office locations and are involved in many philanthropic endeavors.  Among these activities, we sponsor local teams and participate in local charity drives and collections.   Just recently, employees held a fundraising picnic and a massive yard sale to raise almost $3,000.00 for the Kisses for Kyle Foundation.  Given the extent of our community involvement, it is no surprise that my bosses said, “Definitely yes! Go for it Kathy,” when I had the opportunity to volunteer for the 8^th Annual Day of Cultural Sharing.                                                                                                                     

The Day of Cultural Sharing program joins business volunteers with fifth grade classrooms in an hour of diversity activities and conversation in an effort to raise awareness of diversity.   The program sends what we hope is a loud and clear message that we, as a community, value and celebrate diversity.   

I was very excited to be involved in the program.  I feel morally obligated to teach our children to celebrate diversity and to be aware of the harm caused by racism and prejudice.  I hope that my presence in the classroom helped show the students that this is very important to the people and businesses in their community.                                                                                                            

Those who know me might be surprised to hear that in certain situations, I’m actually quite shy.  The idea of standing in front of a group of people, particularly fifth graders, shook me up, so I was eager to attend the October 19 training.   What should I do?  What should I say?  Will they like me?  Will I do a good job? Believe me, the list goes on and on.                                                                                     

I could tell that there is great effort to ensure that when they leave the training, the business volunteers are fully prepared to engage with and occupy a fifth grade class for an hour.  I left feeling prepared and certain that I could fill the hour with good stuff.  I found the training to be very informative and educational.  Did you know that (according to a recent publication from the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State) if current trends continue, by the year 2050 approximately 50 percent of the U.S. population will be non-White and by 2056, there will be no single majority group in this country?  Cleary, it’s imperative that we make diversity a priority.                                                

On October 25, 2007, I arrived at Leo Solomon Elementary School in Plains, PA.  As I mentioned before, I get nervous in front of groups of people, so there was some serious mental prep time before I went to the school.  I was even more uneasy when I found out the students had a substitute teacher for the day because I remember what it was like when I had a substitute teacher!  Luckily, my nervousness was unfounded.  The students were wonderful and incredibly well behaved.  They were interested, polite and tons of fun.  

I began the hour with a short story called The Man and the Eagle.  In the story, an eagle lands on the man’s windowsill.  Thinking the eagle is an ugly creature; the man grabs it, pulls it into his house and makes some changes.  He files down the eagle’s beak because it’s curved.  In addition, because he doesn’t like the way they look, he clips the eagle’s claws down.  After making the eagle look the way he wants, the man shoos it out the window.  Imagine, the story asks, how long the newly trimmed eagle lasts in the wild. 

The fifth grade students are smart!  They were very annoyed with the man and knew the eagle wouldn’t survive too long in the wild. They pointed out that instead of appreciating the characteristics that make the eagle unique and in this case, that help it survive, the man tried to change the eagle and make it look the way he thought it should.  The story was a great discussion starter; we talked about trying to change people who are different than we are and what happens when we do that.  We all agreed that it is a bad idea.                                                                                                                                     

The Man and the Eagle prompted some great discussion.  However, for me, and I believe the students, the “Label Exercise” was the most significant activity of the day.   I had a label for each student.  On the labels I wrote, “Smile at me,” “Say “Hi, “Pat me on the back,” “Shake my hand,” “Give me five” and “give me an “okay” sign.”  On 10 percent of the labels, I wrote, “Turn away from me.”                            

I went around the room and randomly put a sticker on each student’s forehead.   I asked them to remain quiet and not reveal their labels to each other.  At the student’s urging, the substitute teacher and I got a label, too.  Once we all had our labels, I asked the students to get up and mill around. I reminded them not to reveal what was on anyone else’s label, and told them to read the labels and do what they said.   For about 3 or 4 minutes it was great fun.  I got so many pats on the back, it was awesome!  Then, a student who had a label that said, “Turn away from me,” stepped in front of me.  He looked so hopeful.  Maybe he thought I would act differently than the other kids had acted because I’m a grown up – I honestly don’t know.  What I do know is that after I turned away from him, the game was no longer fun for me.  I stopped it and asked the students to take their seats.

When they were sitting, I asked the following questions:

2. 1. How were you feeling?
3. 2. Without looking at your label, do you know what it says? How do you know?

                          3. All of you who think you have the “Turn away from me” label, please come  and stand together in the front of the room.  How did you feel?

Not surprisingly, the students all figured out what their label said.  The three who had, “Turn away from me,” on their label came to the front. When one girl described how she felt, it seemed to accurately sum up the whole lesson.  She said, “I was confused.  I was smiling at people, or trying to give them a high five and everyone just kept turning away.  I didn’t understand why they turned away from me.  It felt really bad and I didn’t like it.”

We talked about how there are times when we all felt like we were wearing a “Turn away from me” label and times we felt left out or targeted.   I explained that some groups experience this more than others.  I asked if they could think of any groups that seem targeted or left out.  They came up with people with disabilities, people of a different religion, people of a different race and underprivileged people.                                                                                                                                             

I reminded them that no one actually said anything negative to them; it was just in our nonverbal communication.  Without words, they got the message.  I reminded the students to think about their body language as well as their words.  The exercise was enlightening for all of us.  We gained some new insights on how being in an oppressed group feels and we agreed to change our non-verbal and verbal behavior to help everyone feel included.                                                                                              

When I finished the hour, I felt profoundly moved.  I feel moved as I sit here typing the post.  I cannot begin to express how lucky I feel to have been involved in the Day of Cultural Sharing and I hope to participate next year.  The students were so open and friendly.  I believe young people appreciate diversity and the differences in people.  They have to be carefully taught to hate and fear.                                            

Kathy O’Mara

Communications Director