Mixing culture with monsters at Waverly High School
DELTA TWP. - It's Tuesday afternoon and Caleb Berry,18, is standing in large, blue furry feet at least three times the size of his own. They come up to his knees.
It'll take at least two other people to help hoist the top half of the massive costume above his head. It weighs at least 35 pounds and towers four feet above Berry's 5-foot, 9-inch frame, but when he's all suited up and standing on stage in the Waverly High School auditorium Thursday night he'll become Sulley, the lovable monster from the film "Monster's Inc."
During his 15 minutes on stage, Berry's monster only speaks Spanish.
It's is just one of a dozen languages students will showcase during "World Language Night," one of the school's biggest and longest running annual events.
Today Spanish teacher Dan Carr is at the helm of the dinner and variety show, but it dates back at least 50 years to the 1960s when students began hosting an annual potluck dinner to welcome refuge families to the district.
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Over the years it's become a full-fledged celebration of the school's own cultural diversity. Last year about 70 languages were featured during the evening event, in everything from on-stage skits, to musical performances and student-created films.
It's done on a shoe string budget with the help of community volunteers and it's become a fitting point of pride for Waverly High School, which was ranked as the sixth most diverse public school in the state by Niche Magazine earlier this year.
About 41% of the school's student body is African American, while another 37% are Caucasian, 16% are Hispanic, 5% are Asian and 1% are American Indian, said Principal Chris Huff.
"We like to say our students are immune to culture shock because they're exposed to so much culture here," Huff said. "That's one of our strengths."
Carr said "World Language Night" draws from that.
"We hang our hat on that," he said. "That's the niche that we carve out in this community. While some schools can talk about diversity, we live it. This is who we are."
Several hundred students have been preparing for Thursday's show since January. This year the night centers around a "Fright Night" theme.
On Tuesday after classes dismissed for the day they were still putting the finishing touches on stage performances, large colorful hand-made pinatas, a haunted house that occupies more than three classrooms and student films, including a version of "Scooby-Doo" performed in Arabic.
In the auditorium Alexis Clemmons, 18, stood by the stage giving directions to a group of students while they rehearsed.
"As soon as you come out from that curtain guys, smile, smile," she said. "Be ready to dance."
"This is your moment," Carr told them from nearby. "You own the stage."
This is Clemmons' fourth year taking part in the event. When she was a freshman she volunteered because it was a preferred alternative to classwork, but she stuck with it, she said, even after realizing how much effort went into the event.
"No work as far as class work but a lot of work for the show," she said. "I've put in probably four months worth of work in two and a half months. The other day I was here until midnight helping to film a certain scene and build a building, putting the script together and putting pinatas together."
But Clemmons said the event is always "phenomenal."
"You have to see it and experience World Language Night to know what it is," she said. "It's amazing and by the end of the night we're ready for another one. It brings all our students together, uses all of our creativity and puts it all together, lets the community see what we can do."
Last year an estimated 1,000 people attended, and Carr said participants have come to expect a packed house. They've also welcomed help from several dozen community members who volunteer.
Among them are alumni like Matthew Gerow, 20, who now works as a Lansing firefighter. Tuesday afternoon Gerow was helping to build sets and pinatas at the high school.
"The years of experience have to be passed along," he said. "When a 15-year-old freshmen comes up to me and says, 'How do I get this pinata to fit this way?' I'm going to show them how, and for the next three years they'll do the same thing. We've done some incredible things here, and it's one of the few times we can come together as a diverse community and celebrate something together."
Carr said it's a Waverly tradition that's still growing.
"We've taken our diversity and we're shining a giant spotlight on it," he said. "We look every year for ways to expand that spotlight to represent the student body. It represents hundreds of hours of their work."
Contact Rachel Greco at (517) 528-2075 or rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.
About the show
World Language Night's pre-show will start at 6 p.m. at Waverly High School, 160 Snow Rd., in the cafeteria. Local restaurants will offer international foods for sale.
The main presentation starts at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. The show is free.
