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Students explore Malagasy culture

BMS celebrates Madagascar Day
Posted on 10/22/2024

   Aya Nobel summed up learning the Malagasy culture on Madagascar Day at Bulkeley Middle School.

   “It’s been really exciting and so cool,” said the sixth grader, who hopes to travel in the future to the East African nation. “There are all these people from Madagascar. They are from a different culture, but they’re also just like us and you can relate to them so much.

          “I do really like the food they have and I like they have theater and traditional dances because I love dancing and I love theater. It just inspires me so much to see people from all over the world doing things like me.”

   Madagascar is an island off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. The fourth largest island in the world is slightly smaller than the state of Texas.

          Bulkeley Middle School began hosting Madagascar Day in 2014 as a day to explore Malagasy culture.

          “The day was a fantastic success,” said John Kemnitzer, principal of Bulkeley Middle School. “We had students working with community organizations in town. We had seventh and eighth graders working with our CLS pre-K, kindergarten, first grade and second grade students.”

          In one classroom, Two by Two Animal Haven had some animals representing that region of the world, including a baby kangaroo. Students lined up after the session for the opportunity to pet the animal.

          “This is a hands-on, interesting day for students to learn about something they probably would not learn about if it wasn’t for this,” said Justin Wiesenthal, social studies teacher.

          In the cafeteria, Emily Houpt of the Education Network for Teachers and Artists delivered a presentation on the foods eaten in Madagascar before students enjoyed chicken with coconut and Malagasy pink rice.

          “I think it’s an incredible and immersive experience for them to try the food, see the animals and hear the stories of the kids who actually visited Madagascar from the high school,” said Amy Zemser, English as a new language teacher.

          In the auditorium, social studies teacher Henry Frischknecht, creator of MadagascarConnect program that’s part of the nonprofit CultureConnect in Rhinebeck, led a discussion about the opportunity for high school students to be chosen to visit Madagascar. He was joined by junior Amaia Hayes, who visited Madagascar with Rhinebeck students in July.

          “They got to meet a lot of people and have a lot of fun,” said Dominic Miller, one of the sixth graders who attended the presentation.