By Julie Slama | [email protected]

Brazil, England, France, Greece, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Oman, Palestine, Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Tatarstan, Turkey, India, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Yemen.

Beehive Science and Technology Academy students could essentially travel the world in one day without ever leaving their campus.

As part of Beehive’s international day, which the school chapter of National Honor Society helped sponsor, students dressed in traditional costumes, set up displays with trinkets from their native countries and had samplings of food from their heritage to try.

Principal Hanifi Oguz said traditionally Beehive students are given the opportunity to choose a country to research and then share their findings with the school and community and it usually provides students the chance to share their own heritage.

“We take education seriously and realize that students come to school to learn, but there is no reason why we can’t make it enjoyable for them to attend,” he said. “We have a large group of students that love this event, and they enjoy prepping for it and look forward to presenting it to other students and parents. It has turned out to be one of most popular activities we do.”

Students are not required to present, but he said many look forward to doing it and learning about countries of cultures they research or learn from their peers.

The displays have an education element to it, Oguz said, as the displays have maps, key facts as well as the traditions and cultural aspects.

Junior Mitchell Crosby chose Italy to share his father’s lineage.

“International day gives us the opportunity to experience our culture or ones we’re interested in and share that with our friends,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to go to Italy, and I love baking, so I learned more about both. I learned zucchini bread started in the 1880s and I used our family recipe to bake six loaves.”

He also shared facts such as “Italy is the No. 1 producer of wine and in 1861, a red wine fountain was established and is available for free” and “it’s the fifth most visited country and the only three volcanoes in Europe are all in Italy.”

Close by juniors Cristie Veernapu and Ketura Murthy showed India’s map with its capitol and states, currency, religion and told their classmates because cows are considered holy, India has the highest population of vegetarians; the two shared some native dishes. They also had family items such as wedding jewelry and shoes and a baby’s silver cup and bowl displayed to show the culture and traditions.

The two girls told their classmates about the country’s government which has both a president and prime minister to the rumor that slaves who took 17 years to build the white marble Taj Mahal, which was a gift from the emperor to his wife, had to cut off their thumbs afterward so they would never build anything like that again.

Students who visited their display learned about their languages, including the word shampoo originated from the Sanskrit word meaning to massage and so the first shampoo was made from water mixed in with ground herbs.

The country is diverse with many languages and dialects.

“Sometimes different areas of each state, which has its own languages, will have different dialects, so there ends up being like 200 languages in India, but they all originate from the ancient langue of Sanskrit,” said Murthy, who was born in India.

In schools, teachers change rooms rather than students and tutoring before and after school is customary, she remembered.

“There are high standards for kids and no time for extracurriculars like we have here,” Murthy said.

Veernapu said that high expectations are still common here amongst students from India origins.

“They most likely are hard-working and studious; Indian parents are stricter, and it’s customary that high standards are set for kids,” she said, “We’re taught to strive to be the best we can be and make the most of the opportunities we have; there’s no time for slack ever. That’s how we are and it’s all we’ve ever known.”

Both girls are National Honors Society members and wanted to share their heritage with others.

“It gives us all a better understanding of who we are and how we can work together when we learn about one another,” Veernapu said.