Pleasant Grove High School hosts an annual multiculturalism assembly, scheduled this school year for Jan. 11. This special day is dedicated to helping every student feel welcomed, comfortable and safe at PG, regardless of religion, culture or ethnicity.

According to sophomore Ajit Randhawa, a varsity volleyball player and a member of the Punjabi Club, having cultural events can help bring people together and lead to new friendships.

“I think it is a great thing because it helps bring people together and teaches (students) about different cultures,” Randhawa said.

Randhawa believes having such events can benefit students who are insecure about their culture. 

“I believe they should keep doing these events because it helps people go out of their comfort zone,” he said.

Randhawa suggested that this event provides an opportunity for students to show their pride in their cultural heritage.

“This helps give people a chance to show their culture and be proud of who they are,” Randhawa said.

Annemarie McKenna, a sophomore at PGHS and member of Culinary Club and Robotics team,  said the event is interesting to watch. 

“I think the multicultural assembly is really cool because we get to see a ton of different cultural clubs,” she said. “There are many different cultural clubs on campus and it allows them to demonstrate their culture in front of the entire school. I think they should continue this tradition because the performances are really fun to see . . .”

Still, McKenna said PG should do more to highlight multiculturalism than conduct an assembly.

“Yes, PG should do more than just an assembly because you don’t really learn (about the) cultural background,” she said. “Cultural clubs performing do not really teach us about back stories.” 

Jaskiran Kaur, a sophomore at PG and a member of Key Club, expressed similar sentiments, saying, “I think it would be nice if PG did a little more.” She said such activities help students from different cultures feel valued and can help address prejudice.

“A person seeing others learn about their culture can also be valuable and validating,” said Kaur. “The best way to prevent prejudice and have a stronger community is to educate others and let them also feel seen.”

McKenna talked about how cultural events can build stronger connections across the student body.

“Our school will be less of an open space if (we) did not have cultural events,” she said. “Having multicultural events helps us to be more connected to each other (and) also helps us be more open minded.”