One West Fargo seeks to share multicultural knowledge with students and community

One West Fargo will be holding its first Multicultural Open Mic Nigh in the Theatre this Friday, March 4th from 5 – 7 pm.

Tyger Albano, Staff Writer

        One West Fargo, a student organized group, will be hosting a multi-cultural Open Mic Night on March 4th from 5-7pm. Students will be showcasing performances, including dances, poetry, storytelling, and a fashion show, that represent important parts of student multicultural knowledge at West Fargo High School. 

        Teresa BlackCloud, EL teacher and Restorative Practice Leader at West Fargo High School, advises the One West Fargo club and defines the group as, “a group of students that work to develop an inclusive school community that supports ALL students through respectful, reflective dialogue and celebrations of our multicultural knowledge. The students really wanted a group that focused on creating opportunities to recognize and honor culture and identity in the school.” 

        BlackCloud takes inspiration to make the Open Mic Night from another event that was hosted back in 2019.  

        “Open Mic Night is inspired by a previous event that happened in West Fargo Public Schools many years ago called New Neighbor Night. It featured different cultural performances, activities, and food, celebrating and welcoming new immigrant and refugee families to the West Fargo community. The students wanted to bring it back, including so much more.” BlackCloud said. “The Open Mic Night is a celebration of our student body’s multicultural identities at the school! It’s an inclusive event that aims at giving a stage to all students to share pieces of their identity, especially for those that may not always be given the spotlight. We want students to share important parts of who they are: a dance, a song, a poem, a story, fashion, or anything else that represents an important aspect of their identity, an important piece of what it means to be a Packer.”  

        West Fargo High School senior Iqra Hassan, who will be performing at the Open Mic Night, is glad to be a part of the first event because of how much the theme of celebrating cultural knowledge means to her. 

        “I wasn’t aware that this was the first ever open mic night. But now that I know, I feel a greater pressure to make sure everything goes smoothly. The process of making an open mic night is more hectic than I imagined, but so far, I’m enjoying it.” Iqra said. “The cultural aspect means the most to me. Being able to create an event where we can celebrate as many cultures as possible within our high school is something Sahara Salou and I (the Co Captains) strived for when we created One West Fargo.” 

        BlackCloud hopes that the event encourages others to learn about other cultures and bring light to some of the many great students here at West Fargo. After the first Open Mic Night, she plans to do even more events for the High School.  

        “On April 2nd, we will be expanding our Open Mic Night to include food and activities to further celebrate one another and involve the community.” Blackcloud said “We also hope to have panels of students to share their experiences for the staff and student body as well.  In our One West Fargo WIN sessions, we also have presentations from students that want to share parts of their identity.”