Millbrook Celebrates International Heritage

Home to students from all over the world, Millbrook School takes time each semester to celebrate international heritage days. Celebrations this semester included Hispanic Heritage Month and National French Week.

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15 each year. To mark the occasion, Millbrook treated students to Hispanic flavors in Casertano Hall.

Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Tatiana Quintanilla set up a tasting station, offering tasty cultural snacks. Many students stopped on their way in and out of lunch, which featured Hispanic classics like birria tacos.

Another way Millbrook highlighted Hispanic culture was by constructing an ofrenda— a colorful altar built for ancestors during the Mexican Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead)—in the Holbrook Arts Center lobby. Students from AP Spanish also took a giant cardboard skeleton to Assembly to illustrate a brief presentation on the tradition.

Organized by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), National French Week took place from November 6–12 this year. French instructor Florent Lacroix put together various activities to help the Millbrook community celebrate.

Throughout the week, students and faculty participated in a pétanque tournament. Pétanque is a yard game in which teams take turns tossing heavy metal balls (boules) at a smaller wooden ball (the cochonnet).

To cap off National French Week, Lacroix organized a course des garçons de café. The traditional French race features participants dressed as waiters carrying trays with a croissant, a cup of coffee, and a glass of water.

Swapping waiter garb for Sunday afternoon sweatpants, students power-walked around campus, trying not to spill the contents of their trays before reaching the finish line on Pulling Quad.

More celebrations of heritage days, weeks, and months will pop up as the school year unfurls. The Millbrook community embraces staff and students from any background, taking every opportunity to appreciate the cultural differences that enrich our campus.