Kapayanpaan, Tsev Neeg, and Rauha are three words that have an unexplainable sense of comfort for students at Buffalo Community Middle School, they mean together, family, and peace. This year, Assistant Principle of BCMS Matt Lubben decided to team up with Diversity Coordinator Vicky Cary to form a Cultures United group. This group is open for anyone in the middle school of a different race or culture who are looking for a place to connect with other students and learn about their cultures. There are currently 35 students involved and is continuously growing.The goal of this group is to be a place where students can openly talk about bullying, and the struggles they may face daily because the majority of our society is simply uneducated of others’ cultures. “Cultures United isn’t a place for students to hide, but to be true to themselves and be proud of who they are. We want to work towards our school having less racism and bullying and not seeing students for size or hair color but because they’re people,” said eighth grader Lillian Vang. Cultures United meets every Thursday during Prime Time to talk about what they want to accomplish and events that they want to plan throughout the year. Recently they voted to elect an eighth grade student to be President and will soon have a vice president and treasurer. Some ideas that members have are to take field trips to help the community, like bagging groceries. They hope to expand and grow, as this is just the first year of Cultures United. Administration finds it important to create an opportunity at the middle school so students don’t need to wait until high school to be part of a diversity group. “I am truly amazed with what ELL teacher Shana Bergenzer has accomplished at the high school and believe they have done a great job dealing with diversity. We are just trying to take that momentum of their success and mimic it here,” said Lubben.
