Culture at Bowling Green High

By Nick Allison

Culture can be expressed in every corner of the world, having an effect on everyone's lives. Bowling Green is particularly fruitful in the amount of cultures it has due to it being designated as a refugee resettlement site in 1979, according to Harvard University. Regardless of the diversity, we still come together and show appreciation for each other's cultures which can be apparent at events such as the International Festival or more recently the culture booths set up by students at Bowling Green High School to display their heritage. Sophomore Spanish transfer student Merche Perez De Lema Carmona states, “I think culture is very important, learning about each other's culture lets us understand each other, like respecting each other more.”

Culture is something that can also give a person individuality, it can affect how they act or view the world around them. Merche says, “It makes us more curious about how other parts of the world work, which also lets us understand that we are not the center of the universe.” 

BGHS sophomore Stephanie Castillo adds, “It helps build how someone is.”

However, culture can mean different things depending on the surroundings of how someone grows up. Stephanie elaborated, “Since there are so many countries that are Latino, the people of those countries have their own variations of what being Latino is. Like Latin Americans, those people have two cultures, so they could lean towards being more Latino than being American.” 

Stephanie considers herself to be Latino because it’s mostly how she grew up and was most around. 

Different cultures also often have different traditions to commemorate different times of the year or events that take place. Stephanie explains a tradition in her culture stating, “We have new year traditions, such as if you take your bags outside on a walk at 12:00, you will travel more or if you're a girl to never walk barefoot with wet hair because it's bad luck.” 

Merche also has traditions in her culture, stating, “On January 5th, which is when the three wise men visited Jesus, we have this baked bread in a circle and it has like cream in it and there's a baby wise man inside the cream and also a bean. People will eat it with their family and all the kids want to get the figure because it's cute and whoever gets the bean gets to pay for it.”

What Merche was trying to explain was roscón de reyes, a sort of sweet bread that's traditionally from Spain. She also explains a bit more of her Spanish culture by stating, “We’re very laid back and very art focused so we have a lot of dances and dishes.”

In order for cultures to grow, more people have to associate themselves with cultures. Stephanie and Merche say that their favorite aspect of their cultures is how welcoming they are to other people. 

“We’re very welcoming. Even if you don't speak Spanish, people will try to understand you. They’ll just have a fun time with you.” says Merche. However, there are still challenges to being part of different cultures. 

Stephanie explains, “You want to fit in but stay with your culture. Sometimes your culture is something that doesn't help you fit in so you kinda feel the pressure of either fitting in and not practicing your culture or don’t fit in and practice your culture.” 

Merche also explains some challenges with practicing culture and says, “I think sometimes with culture comes shame when there are other cultures around. Having a much different culture than everybody around you or being the only one of your culture can bring a little shame when you're trying to fit in.” 

There will always be factors differentiating cultures from each other that can either bring people together or keep them apart—but in the end, it will still be a key element that will provide uniqueness to each and every person in the world.