Once again, the student-run organization STAND (short for Students Together and Naturally Diverse) will host Multi-Cultural Week; this year the events will take place October 19-23.
This year’s theme is “All the Colors of Hope.” The theme was inspired by rainbows, where many colors come together and depend on each other to create a collage of beautiful light in the sky. This theme will be visually represented by a colorful banner with rainbow-colored handprints, which will be on display in the dining room throughout Multi-Cultural Week.
The Week’s Events:
To start the week, STAND is hosting an ice cream social at Cold Stone Creamery in Mendota Heights; the entire Visitation community is invited to the ice cream social to learn more about what STAND has to offer (and new members are always encouraged!) On Tuesday, students will see a martial arts demonstration, conducted by the school’s attendance coordinator, Scott Supplee.
On Wednesday, STAND welcomes the Hayor Bibimma African Dance Company, who will present traditional West African dancing and drumming. For more information, visit their website. http://www.hayorbibimmadance.org.
The week will conclude on Friday, October 23, with the annual Multi-Cultural Buffet feast at lunch. Tickets for the buffet will cost $5 dollars in advance and $7 dollars on Friday. Throughout the week, STAND will sell advance tickets at lunch for Friday’s buffet; STAND students will also read the meal prayer in a different language each day. T-shirts with this year’s theme will also be sold on Friday at lunch.
Visitation’s Diversity Statement
In an effort to move the community closer towards the virtue of acceptance of all of God’s children, STAND would like everyone to become more familiar with Visitation’s diversity statement this year. Of course, the diversity group is quite enthused for the upcoming events of Multi-Cultural Week and hopes that the Visitation Community will join the festivities of welcoming and celebrating all the colors of the rainbow! The school’s diversity statement is listed below.
Convent of the Visitation School acknowledges that diversity can be described in a variety of ways. After consulting with the Visitation Monastic community, students, faculty, alumnae, staff, parents and members of the Board of Trustees, we have prayerfully discerned that diversity is an opportunity for theological understanding and acceptance.
Therefore, the Convent of the Visitation School believes that three primary constructs are imbedded in the concept of diversity.
To embrace our Visitation motto of “Not for School but for Life” demands that we fully educate ourselves in the Salesian teaching “Be who you are, and be that well.”
To attract and retain students and staff who reflect all of God’s children, in order to enrich our faith-filled Salesian community and to nurture our Catholic and Salesian environment, we will respect all of God’s children regardless of such characteristics as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, physical attributes, intellectual capabilities, sexual identity and socio-economic status.