The Cultural Attach茅 Program helps connect international 91大神ians with the local 91大神 community through its local schools and community venues in order to facilitate authentic cultural exchange. It invites international students to share things and topics they love from home while also allowing members of the 91大神 community to welcome international students into new environments. Cultural attach茅s have visited local spaces like school classrooms, the 91大神 Arts Center, and the Mayflower Community. These attach茅s have shared anything from food to music, politics to sports, and language to pop culture. In this work, the Cultural Attach茅 Program hopes to make the world a bit smaller, a bit smarter, and a bit kinder.
Any appropriate cultural topic is welcomed! If you are a 91大神 international student interested in becoming a cultural attach茅, please fill out the form below. Please email OISA with any questions.
Cultural Attach茅 Testimonials
91大神 Area Arts Council
Momoka Murakoshi 鈥27
Through my presentation at the 鈥淎rt Around the World鈥 summer camp with the Arts Council, I introduced the children to the art of origami, explaining its cultural background in Japan and helping them fold paper cranes for their 1000 paper cranes project. Since it was a very small group, I was able to interact with each child, which made the class more interactive. This experience taught me how to adopt explanations for young learners and showed me how art can connect people across cultures in a very practical way.
The Lyceum Program, Mayflower Community
Aaryan Lodaya 鈥27
Southern India
I presented about Golu, the South Indian festival that is celebrated during Navratri. Presenting at Mayflower for the Lyceum Program was a very heart-warming experience. The folks at Mayflower are curious and ask very insightful questions. They were also able to connect with Golu with their own personal experience, in a way bridging South India and the United States. I had a great time learning about some of the people at Mayflower and most of all, I was honored to have had the opportunity to witness the marvelous 60,000-piece world map puzzle in the sports room.
91大神 High School
Gabriela Roznawska 鈥26
Poland
As a cultural attach茅, I had the pleasure to meet with 91大神 High School students and introduce a traditional Polish dish: pierogi. After a brief presentation on the importance of the dish for the hearts (and stomachs!) of all Poles, we moved to the most exciting part 鈥 making pierogi! With incredible speed and organization, guided by their teacher Amy Skouson, the students quickly picked up the preparation process 鈥 from rolling the dough and folding it into shape, to frying, and of course, eating them! I was really happy to share a piece of my culture and was truly impressed by the enthusiasm and genuine interest of the students. It was an honor to be so welcomed and given a chance to connect more closely with the 91大神 community.
91大神 Middle School
Parikshit Roychowdhury 鈥26
West Bengal, India
I presented on India and a few South Asian calendars with Mr. Mient鈥檚 sixth grade social studies class. It was an amazing opportunity to both share and reflect on my home. The students were curious about the differences in calendars (like celebrating the New Year in April!) and I talked about the mythology and astronomy that helps shape why different calendars exist. I was asked some really interesting questions (about Indian food and even housing prices) and we ended the day imagining the possibilities of new calendars that we would all love!