Among the wide variety of clubs at Cal High, the culture club distinctively sets itself apart from the rest.

Led by junior Kathley Letran, the Culture Club shares and informs students about the diverse cultures within Cal High and around the world.

“The purpose of our culture club is to educate on and stimulate discussion of different cultures around the world in a safe space,” said secretary Megan Weinshelbaum, a junior.

Every month, the first-year club focuses on a different culture. Certain cultures are covered based on the time an important holiday is taking place.

“We spend our time learning about [various] cultures,” said sophomore Jessica Chen,  a member of the club, “Each meeting is dedicated to one culture, although some took several meetings to cover.”

The club meets once every two weeks to participate in activities, including games and exercises, that relate to the traditions or holidays of the designated culture. Through these meetings, students learn to understand and share the particulars of different cultures.

“The club leadership looks up information about cultures of the world, usually cultures personal to them, then presents the information to the club participants in an electronic presentation,” said club adviser, Alita Acianoh.

“They’ll pass around objects related to that culture for us to see, and they’ll have food, games, or videos for us to watch,” said Chen, “We can win prizes from the games sometimes, and that’s pretty fun.”

The second meetings of the months are commonly reserved for a mini buffet, exhibiting several foods and drinks that showcase a culture’s traditional tastes. Members were able to taste foods from various regions of Indian culture, including delicacies such as hot chai, Gulab jamun, and cumin cookies.

For the club’s Chinese culture month, students enjoyed hot tea and lucky snack wheels to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

The students also got to participate in other exciting activities, such as the red envelope game.While learning about Japanese culture, students learned how to fold origami to make a flower.

“We try to include many willing participants if they wish to contribute to their own culture,” said Letran, “We had someone cook their own foods for us to try, and just a few weeks ago, [we had] a student volunteer teach an Irish dance [during] our Irish culture month.”

The Culture Club exposes students to a variety of cultures in both educational, but enjoyable manners.

“I love how we are able to present these cultures in innovative [and] engaging ways that our members enjoy,” Weinshelbaum said.

So far in this school year, the club has covered the diverse cultures of India, Mexico, China, Ireland, and Japan, and will be looking into a few more cultures of  for the remaining weeks left.

“[The culture club’s goal] is to build bridges, not walls, and to strengthen the Cal High community that would otherwise be divided due to culture ignorance,” said Letran.