Westside High School will be hosting its first ever WE-SIDE Multicultural Fair, “A Taste of Westside” on April 22. This event is looking to highlight a multitude of cultures through foods, arts, crafts, performance rituals and many more activities.

Brittney Bolkovac, dean of students, is one of the main sponsors of this event. Bolkovac said that she hopes this event will shed more light on the many cultures that are in the Westside community. 

“The Multicultural Fair is just a way for people to come and showcase their identity, their culture and really to educate others on who they identify with,” Bolkovac said.

The Westside community is embracing diversity and Bolcovack hopes that this event will change the outlook that people have about all the different cultures at Westside. 

“I hope this event will instill more pride in Westside, I think Wetside has a unique history and with that we have a really rich culture here,” Bolkovac said. “It costs you nothing to come and learn about people and you gain more of a sense of belonging in the community.”

In addition to the many teachers who are supporting and helping put together this event, there are quite a few students who have been the main orchestrators in the Multicultural Fair. 

Junior Hafsa Mohammed first came to Bolkovac to express her interest in starting this event. Mohammed said that when she first transferred to Westside last year, she gained an initiative to change peoples’ perspectives and their false stereotypes.

“Before I transferred to Westside, I had a lot of friends and peers who told me that Westside is not a diverse school and very white-washed,” Mohammed said. “At first I was apprehensive about going in here, but after a couple days I realized that there are so many people from different walks and that insinuated an ambition in me that wanted people to change their view on Westside.” 

Mohammed said that she reached out to superintendent Dr. Mike Lucas about her idea, and he connected her with hired administrators at the ABC building and different faculty members of Westside High School.

“I was interviewed by Iowa Public Schools about my idea which really made me feel confident about the effect that this Multicultural Fair could have on people,” Mohammed said. “It’s progressing out really well and although I helped start this event, I couldn’t have done it without Mrs. Bolkovac and Dr. Lucas helping me along the way.”