Jackie Huang ’24
On January 23rd, the St. Marks community gathered together in the PFAC to end off C&E day with Umoja!
Umoja, which means ‘unity’ in Swahili, is a talent show with a focus on taking pride in and celebrating different and shared identities. Numerous affinity groups on campus put together 16 amazing performances.
The event featured poem readings by SWIRL (Students with Inter-Racial Lives), Men’s Group and SASS (South Asian Students Society), a prayer reading by CFG (Christian Fellowship group), a video by Los Leones (Latina/o/e/x Students), a dance by BLU (Black Lives Union), and instrumental, vocal, and a K-POP dance performance by ASEA (Association of South-East Asians). Finally, following the performance of “Imagine” by Louis Armstrong, the Pathway Prefects (Louise He ‘23, Anglican Hiraldo ‘23, Jonathan Hernandez ‘24, and Diane Kwon ‘24), performed a dance compilation celebrating the diverse cultures among the prefects, an annual tradition
Being fully organized by the Pathways Prefects, putting together Umoja was no easy feat. One of four Pathways Prefects Diane Kwon ‘24 says, “With such rush and short amount of time, it wasn't easy to put together 15 acts, especially when students may be hesitant to share their talents and passion with the entire school. It was a stressful period of time to make sure these acts are practiced to the best of in order to share a glimpse of each and everyone's true culture! Thankfully, pathways had two amazing tech supports and each other to pull through an unforgettable experience.”
Such an event, by offering an opportunity for the community to be exposed to a wide array of cultures, allows everyone to learn something new in such an engaging way. The dance moves, words, and songs often remain echoing around campus even till the end of the week.
“Umoja truly has been my favorite part of being one of St. Mark’s Pathways Prefects,” says Diane, “something I will do again in a heartbeat”.
The magic of Umoja isn’t simply the performances themselves, but more so the cultural passion and new knowledge that can be carried on for a lifetime.