With Christmas less than a month away, the holiday season is in full swing. Majestic displays of lights illuminate the night and carols fill the air with joy. However, amidst the holiday fever, those who don’t celebrate Christmas, although understanding of why the spirit is so prevalent, want to see more recognition of their cultures and the holidays they celebrate. 

“It is kind of the culture here in America, even if people aren’t necessarily Catholic or Christian … they still celebrate Christmas because it’s just kind of that thing that people do,” senior Gavin Starling said. “I definitely wish there was a little bit more representation, but it’s nice … especially when I came back from the break on Monday. It had been the first night [of Hanukkah] already. And I had two teachers who both told me Happy Hanukkah. That was really nice.” 

Although the school has improved cultural awareness in recent years, junior Ameerah Alfailakawi thinks the school can further expand their outreach. 

“I know Key Club and Red Cross, they make cards and little things for every little holiday,”

“The school, I think, definitely could spread awareness [of] this and I think it would be cool because our school is very diverse and we do have students from all over the place,” Alfailakawi said.

Starling would also like to see more emphasis on learning about different holidays and cultures.

“People hear about the big three — Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa — and it would be really nice to hear about more stuff,” Starling said. “I remember specifically when I was in fourth grade, we had a diversity thing where we went over a lot of different winter holidays and that was super, super interesting. So I wish we could have something like that where people could learn about diverse cultures and stuff like that during this time of year.”