A festive event designed to celebrate the countries from around the world that are represented at the school.

For such a culturally diverse organization as Cayman International School (CIS), an International Day is one of the best ways to display the various countries that are represented at the school. On Tuesday, November 17, hundreds of students, parents, teachers and community members gathered in the Arts and Recreation Center (ARC) of Camana Bay for a grand international experience. This year, the event had its largest number of supporters to date which resulted in more excitement, more fun and more food.

The countries of the world were divided into 13 regions with each region assigned to a booth to display the countries and cultures it represented. With the use of a “World Traveler” theme, the ARC was turned into the “CIS International Airport”. It was decorated with signs and arrows that directed people where to “check-in” and to collect a passport to be stamped at the various destinations/booths. The students, along with their teachers, coordinated and decorated the booths to display the artifacts, costumes, national symbols, and a spread of delicious foods from each region.

Food was one of the main attractions of the event. A large number of the food items was donated mostly by the international families and other members of the CIS community such as the school’s lunch provider, Mise En Place. The crowd sampled foods from across the globe as they explored each region. Some of the food samples included: samosas from India, steak pies from the UK, ackee and saltfish from Jamaica, empanadas from Honduras, chicken dumplings from China, and gumbo from the USA, just to name a few.

“The International Day event highlighted the cultural diversity of our school and was a fantastic community building event. It provided an opportunity for children and parents to showcase their pride for their home country”, said the school’s director, Jeremy Moore. Apart from having a great time, Mr. Moore sees a greater advantage and purpose of an event such as this, “…our International Day, in part, is about celebrating heritage and learning about other countries however, the true intent is focused on growing global-mindedness in children, and building tolerance and appreciation for diversity”, he commented.

“In our time of terrorism and violence based on religious and political differences, one of the greatest imperatives of education is to teach children that peace can be achieved through understanding, collaboration, global-mindedness, service and caring”, said Mr. Moore. An example of these achievements amongst our students was noted at the European booth. The students placed signs saying “Peace in Paris” to help express their support for the people of France following the attacks in Paris.

The International Day event will continue to grow each year and serve as a positive social gathering for the students, CIS families, and even the entire Cayman Islands. CIS would like to thank its community of supporters, as well as the sponsors of the event, Casanova by the Sea and Dolphin Cove, who donated raffle prizes that created additional excitement for the event.