This week Mercedes students celebrate Harmony Week, in which we celebrate the cultural diversity of our country and community.
What an important day it is to celebrate, with so many crisis situations happening around the world in Ukraine, Yemen, Gaza and elsewhere, including here in Australia. We must continually remind ourselves that our actions matter and each of us can help build a more compassionate world, wherever we are.
No matter someone’s race, background or faith, everyone belongs, and we all deserved to feel safe, welcomed and supported. At Mercedes we pride ourselves on being a college for every girl, and promoting the participation and empowerment of all students of all backgrounds.
To celebrate Harmony Week, staff and students arranged several activities to foster inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for students of all cultures. Catherine’s Cafe, our school cafe, cooked delicious meals each day this week, particularly highlighting each dish’s country of origin. Year 11 Student Representative Council members sold orange hair ribbons to raise funds for Project Compassion. Several homeroom-based competitions ran during Thursday’s Pastoral Care Period. Students around the school designed a mask to promote the themes of belonging and inclusivity, with the winning homeroom awarded with a hamper of international goodies. In some classes, each student decorated a strip of paper with a flag of their country of origin. Students then joined each strip together to form a single paper chain, symbolising unity and connections between diverse nations. Finally, homeroom groups completed a Kahoot quiz game about different countries and cultures.
A special mention also to Polly Agrawal (Year 8) who performed a dance to the Hindi song “Maiyya Yashoda” to her homeroom. Polly was nice enough to allow us to publish her dance on our Facebook and Instagram @mercedescollegeperth – watch it here: https://youtu.be/1J9aSzy6H74
Well done Polly. Superstar in the making!
