Performances, eats and more at Revere multicultural night

REVERE – The students at Revere High School speak more than 70 different languages and almost half are from a Latin American country. That diversity was on full display Saturday night at the school’s second annual multicultural night.Students from Morocco, El Salvador and the United States – to name a few – moved seamlessly Saturday between booths hosted by Turkish, Cape Verdean and Japanese students and teachers, noshing on traditional snacks from each country and joking with their peers.Click for a photo galleryRevere High School students are used to being surrounded by diversity, said David Eatough, a science teacher at the school.”We celebrate diversity, and we focus on the differences too sometimes, but at the same time the kids get along as if there are no differences,” he said.The evening, which featured performances from Revere’s ROTC and dance teams, raised money for the school’s new learning common at the front of the library.Librarian Rachel Bouhando said the learning common opened in the fall to encourage students to study and communicate together. It features large, closed-off study areas, and more intimate tables and chairs to lounge in and study. She said she hopes to raise money to buy multicultural books and resources.”They all want to read ?Twilight’ in their language,” she said.Senior Sergio Justinino, who is from Bolivia, said he enjoys being out of his comfort zone in his diverse classes. He has friends from Mexico, El Salvador and Morocco – just off the top of his head.”It’s so nice because you know people from every culture,” he said. ” ? You’re not just in your own world, you know a lot of people who think differently than you.”Freshmen Alicia Barry and Melanie Caggiano, who are from the United States, said they, too, feel blessed to be studying in such a diverse school.”If you don’t understand a different culture, then that’s how prejudices are formed, and then racism can set in,” Barry said.Their science teacher, Eatough, thinks his students are ahead of the game in being so comfortable among a veritable United Nations of cultures.”There’s no barriers,” he said. “Leaders of countries could learn a lot from our kids.”Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].