Dear Laker Community, 

March is National World Language Month! It is a celebration of the world's diversity of languages and culture as well as the opportunity to recognize the importance of language acquisition in our schools. On Thursday, March 13, we will host a Multi-Cultural Fair at the high school to showcase various cultures and traditions, dress, dance, music, and languages. 

An important skill in a global society is the ability to understand and communicate with diverse groups. According to the IB Learner Profile, Communicators can express their ideas in a variety of ways, including speaking, writing, drawing, music, dance, and drama. They collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups. Effective communicators respond to others in a compassionate and empathetic way.

During our recent trip to Tanzania, WPS students demonstrated the ability to communicate using multiple languages and modalities. They engaged children at Ngongongare Primary School through soccer and play and learned how to count in Swahili. At Shamba Kimpara, they got to know Nord Anglia peers from d'Overbroeck's Oxford, Greengates School and Collège Champittet by interacting in English, Spanish, French and Mandarin. Later in the week, WPS students visited Shanga, a social enterprise that trains people with disabilities to produce creative products including weaving, glass blowing, and beading. There, I witnessed two of our students using dance to communicate with members of the deaf community. 

Before leaving for Tanzania, Dr. Salerno challenged the students to consider what is happiness. In spite of the poverty, there is a great deal of happiness in Tanzania that comes from social interactions and communal living. This is best expressed through the traditional African philosophy of ubuntu. Ubuntu can be described as the capacity to express compassion. It emphasizes the importance of community and shared humanity and is based on the idea that "I am because we are.” In other words, Unitas. 

This weekend, WPS will host Lakerthon, our largest fundraiser of the year. It is our opportunity to give back to the local and global communities. We are calling on the spirit of Unitas and ubuntu to achieve our collective goal of raising $100,000 to support the Children’s Miracle Network and Seeway Tanzania. While in Tanzania, WPS students visited the proposed site of a medical dispensary in the Nazreti village to address many easily treatable childhood illnesses and injuries. The dispensary will also have a birthing clinic, allowing women in labor to easily access medical care without traveling by foot in extreme heat for long distances. The dispensary was the vision of members of the Class of 2025 who traveled to Tanzania last year. 

In a community, we rely on one another, we care for one another, and we work together to achieve shared goals. Let’s work together to achieve our common goal of raising $100,000 for Lakerthon! 

Mrs. Kelly Freundt

Spanish Teacher and NAE Global Partnership Lead