Students at Queensborough Middle School celebrated Vaisakhi - a Sikh festival - last month.
Queensborough Middle School has a unique language program class that teaches Punjabi.
"Under the leadership of their Punjabi teacher, Mr. Deep Singh Sangra, the students of the Punjabi class at QMS did an excellent job in celebrating Vaisakhi in school on April 19," said an email from Balwant Sanghera. "The whole school was buzzing with Vaisakhi-related activities. Even the main entrance to the school had Happy Vaisakhi signs both in English and Punjabi."
The Punjabi class students explained the significance of Vaisakhi in Punjabi and English at the event and also put on a cultural performance for students and teachers.
The local Sikh community provided a hot lunch for Queensborough Middle School staff and distributed snacks to students, the email said.
"It was a commendable way of creating more pride amongst students about their cultural heritage in the Canadian context," Sanghera wrote. "Programs, activities and gestures like these go a long way in creating a positive image of the community and creating opportunities for cross-cultural understanding."
STUDENTS WIN
Two New Westminster students are among the winners for the 2012 Concours d'art oratoire.
Ariana Sider and Iveta Demirova were among the winners for their speeches at the provincial finals of the 29th annual Concours d'art oratoire last Saturday at SFU Surrey.
Grade 7 student Iveta won first place in her category, while Ariana, a Grade 12 student, came third in her category for her piece, L'occupation de Wall Street.
Two hundred and sixty students in grades six to 12 presented speeches in French at the event, organized by Canadian Parents for French - B.C. and Yukon branch. The competition is the culmination of classroom, school and district competitions.
