Annual Multicultural Family Festival Celebrates Eighth Year
by Constance Mattox, Director of Multicultural Affairs and Lower School Art Teacher

February 3, 2007 proved to be another wonderful magical afternoon for our Stone Ridge community. This date marked the eighth year of our Annual Multicultural Family Festival. The Festival has grown beyond leaps and bounds, showcasing the cultural diversity of our school community. Visitors and guests filled the entire gym complex to enjoy delicious food, beautiful artifacts, and important histories of the different countries and communities to which our students, parents, and faculty belong.

This year’s highlights included the returning “Japanese Way of Tea” conducted by the Chado Urasenke Tankokai Washington, D.C. Association. The opening Tea ceremony honored the dedication and longevity of our beloved Sr. Mary Louise “Mamie” Jenkins and welcomed our head of school Dr. Richard Barbieri. After their time with the Tea Mistress, many of our young students and visitors had the opportunity to be part of their own private tea ceremony.

Middle School parent Mrs. Allison Miner (Ava '13) provided us with the opportunity to enjoy fresh, hot Louisiana beignets, and Mrs. Edith Miller (Victoria '12 and Julia '17) and Mrs. Isabelle de Zamaroczy (Zita '12) returned to supply us with delicate French crèpes. The surprise treat of the afternoon was the root beer floats made so quickly and professionally by Mr. Gerard Lederer (Sara Trujillo-Lederer '13).

A special new item arrived this year. Anike Skeete ’12 created and donated two T-shirts sporting the new Festival Gator logo. The shirts were part of the Adult and Child Gift Baskets won by two attending participants.

The group “Yours Truly” with lead guitarist Iana Kozelsky '12, along with Mega and Tika Hananto on bass guitar and acoustic drums respectively, rocked the festival with Philippine, Indonesian, and Czech Republic music. Talk about “girl power,” these young ladies rocked the house!

Lower School students Katie Curt '15, Kaitlin Ballenger '15, and Middle School student Madi Taylor '14 demonstrated the fine art of Irish dancing along with members of the Culkin Dance Studio.

Middle School drama students performed a dance scene from “Mafaro’s Beautiful Daughters,” which was part of the fall production of the “Cinderella Trilogy.” And finally, our very own Stone Ridge Step Team closed out the performance part of the afternoon with a high-spirited, energetic, rhythmic step routine, which had the audience up on their feet shouting for more.

Wow, what a wonderful afternoon! If you missed it, please reserve the date for next year, and join us for a celebration of culture, family, and life.