BSM’s World Language and Culture Week, which was from March 4 to March 8, served as a celebration of various customs, peoples, and backgrounds.

This week coincided with the National Foreign Language Week, created in the year of 1957 by Sister Eloise Therese, and endorsed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The week encouraged collaboration between language students of all grades, with special events and activities.

On Monday, March 4, all homerooms were shown a video about the God’s Child Mission trip video from 2015 and 2016 to bring awareness to “Penny Race,” a fundraising cause working to raise money for building homes, providing food, clothing, basic utilities and education for families in Guatemala.

On Tuesday, March 5, Mardi Gras Crepes were made in French classes in order to celebrate Mardi Gras, and incorporate a staple of French culture. In Spanish classes, there were food parties put on where students could prepare and try various Spanish recipes such as quesadillas and tostadas. After school, there was a sushi demo put on by the Taher company, where Chefs Raúl, Weezy, and Grady showed students the art of rolling sushi as well as preparing samples for the attending students.

The culture bowl was on Wednesday, March 6. It was a friendly competition between faculty/staff and students, where both teams raced to answer various questions about world languages, culture, geography, and history. This fast-paced, high energy competition took place in the Atrium from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

BSM held a Spanish mass on Thursday, March 7. It was led by Father Keith Kitzhaber, a former missionary priest in La Paz, Bolivia. Students in the AP Spanish Literature class performed a few songs and readings at the mass.

Friday, March 8 was the day BSM had fourteen foreign missionary speakers from the Emmanuel Community, which is a Catholic association started in France in the 1970s. The speakers talked about their various cultural backgrounds, their missionary work, and their relationship with God during their travels.

Throughout the week, morning prayers were said in different languages such as Hungarian, Hindi, Russian, and Spanish.