The third annual Hawk Fest will be on March 5 from 1-3 p.m. in the cafeteria. Students will be able to experience various cultural backgrounds through traditional food, clothing, international music and more. 

“Hawk Fest is the celebration of the different cultures we have at Hebron,” Hawk Fest committee member Sunila Gaikwad said. “Hebron is such a diverse school with diverse staff and student populations, so we wanted to dedicate a time to celebrate all the different cultures.”

In the days leading up to the week of Hawk Fest, teachers and students were given a chance to sign up to bring cultural items or perform for Hawk Fest. Senior Tiffany Nguyen, who will be participating in Hawk Fest for the third year, will be serving Vietnamese egg rolls and Thai agar fruit jelly cake to attendees. 

“Egg rolls have always been my favorite comfort food in my household growing up,” Nguyen said. “For the fruit jelly cake, I wanted to share lychee, which is an uncommon fruit, in the appetizing form of a fruit cake.”

Although Gaikwad said that food is the main attraction, the event will showcase various forms of entertainment such as games, music and live dance. Junior Sona Ethakkan will perform dances to music that originate from different parts of India.

“I choreographed a [dance] solo composed of North and South Indian dances, hip-hop, Bollywood and bhangra,” Ethakkan said. “Expressing emotions through dance is important to me, especially since there’s so much dancing in Indian culture because it’s a way we celebrate our joy and youth.”

Gaikwad said she hopes students come to Hawk Fest to not only appreciate Hebron’s multicultural student body, but to open up their pre-existing views on different cultures and ethnicities.

“It’s common for people to hold myths or [prejudiced] beliefs about someone’s background,” Gaikwad said. “[This event will] be good for them to see the similarities and differences between cultures, and those differences should be celebrated with the community.”