School News, Student Life

iFest journeyed into new cultures

By: Heather Kim

During iFest, Suwon Central Christian Academy performed taekwondo, Korean traditional dance, and Korean traditional music routines. Additionally, Tanvi Mavuri of grade two performed her own cultural dance routine. Parents, students, and the local community gathered together to serve food to one another while learning about other cultures.
During iFest, Suwon Central Christian Academy performed taekwondo, Korean traditional dance, and Korean traditional music routines. Additionally, Tanvi Mavuri of grade two performed her own cultural dance routine. Parents, students, and the local community gathered together to serve food to one another while learning about other cultures.

On Apr.13, the school and the Suwon local community came together to celebrate multi-culturalism at the International Festival (iFest).

iFest is an annual event hosted by the PTA (Parent Teacher Association). The iFest emphasized more on Korean traditional performances. Professional Korean cultural entertainment groups, students from Central Christian Academy (CCA) presented Taekwondo, traditional fan dance, Nanta, and Samul-nori.

“The Taekwondo and the dance was very impressive. They were able to pick up a wooden board and cut it open within a short amount of time while adding style and rhythm into it at the same time,” commented freshman Ai Tseng.

Mrs. Anderson added, “I loved the girls with the spinning skirts and the fan dance, but all performances were really good. I think the skirt spinning looked really fun, and then I liked how they choreographed fans going in a circle while one girl was spinning.”

“The best part of iFest was that I got to eat good food such as the Bulgogi brochette and bubble tea while socializing with my friends because we really did not have that much time to talk to each other during school,” shared freshmen Sarah Lee.

In addition to the lively atmosphere, there was something else that made iFest more enjoyable. Sho Nakama, who came to help his friends run booths, thought, “Among the past four years, I think this year’s [iFest] was the best. The rain showered last year, but the weather was warm and sunny for this year. I think everything was perfect; many people came as well.”

Besides performances and the weather, many students who are  involved in clubs and fund-raising organizations participated by running booths to raise awareness. Furthermore, students who were involved in the six VASE trips represented their countries by selling cultural items and food from the countries they visited.

“We sold small powder packages of juice we always drank in Indonesia …People liked it!” beamed Samantha Kim, who went to Indonesia for VASE trip and helped run a booth during iFest. She added that their booth was a big success; they sold all of the juice packets.

Among many student-run booths, the Seung-Il Hope Foundation booth stood out the most. The Seung Il Hope Foundation is an organization dedicated to helping patients suffering from Lu Gehrig’s Disease, which is a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The booth was run by Hannah Seo, whose motive was to “help out the patients who are suffering from the disease” and “help out the family members of those who are affected by the disease” after experiencing a similar situation that occurred to her aunt.

“I sold aroma oil, which is good for your skin and we sold [Korean] cooking sauce that was already seasoned.” With a smile drawn across her face, Hannah added, “For the beauty products, a lot of Korean women liked it. The seasoned sauces were popular among teachers because they wanted to try making Korean food.”

iFest began from 1:30 p.m to 5:30 p.m. More than 300 people attended the event.