Celebration of the Year Held at Whitcomb

The second annual World Language Festival Wednesday evening put the best work of the year on display for parents and students to see, experience and even taste.

"It's a celebration of what we have been doing this year," said Whitcomb Principal Mary Murphy of the event that featured language, games and food from around the world.

In its second year, the language festival encompasses the languages of Latin, French Spanish and Mandarin Chinese taught at the school, said Latin Teacher Jocelyn Demuth who organized the event. In addition to showcasing the culture of the different languages, the festival encourages group work with multiple students working on one presentation.

"That's part of the lesson," said Demuth of the students learning to work together. "It's about building teamwork."

One student was creating more than teamwork. As part of their project on Paris Fashion week, Rose Schade and Megan Dion were making a quilt out of panels decorated by students and parents at the festival. As Schade sewed the quilt during the festival, she said that she was unsure whether she would donate the quilt back to the school or to a hospital.

"I just like to sew," she said. "Paris has to do with sewing. People seem to forget about the sewing aspect of design."

In addition to the language festival, student artwork was placed all along the wall, with teachers present in their classrooms to talk to parents and students.