A crowd of parents and Chamber members gathered at The Salisbury School on May 3, 2019 for a ribbon cutting and glimpse of The Salisbury School’s 32nd Global Awareness Day. This year’s featured country was Ghana.
Global Awareness Day is one of the most cherished and anticipated experiential days of the school year. For months leading up to this special day, students of all grade levels study the history, traditions, geography, food, music, art, and more about the featured country. The study culminates on Global Awareness Day when the school is “magically” transformed overnight – by teachers and parent volunteers who have planned, painted and built many things to represent aspects of the featured country throughout the school.
As Head of School Bev Dearing explains, “We cannot bring all students around the world, so we bring the world to our students.”
For this year’s study of Ghana, students learned about Ghanaians’ love for music and drumming. Many students learned the basics of playing a djembe drum; others learned to sing in native languages. Students learned about adinkra symbols, a tradition of the Ashanti people, and tried their hand at printing in ink and batik using traditional techniques. Some classes helped make plantain cakes for the all-school lunch. Middle and upper school students created folk tales.
During the ribbon cutting and open house, guests toured classrooms decorated as a Ghanaian marketplace, the Atewa Rainforest, and the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam. Refreshments for the evening included Ghanaian food specialties such as West African Chicken, Bofrot and fried plantains.
Plans for The Salisbury School’s 33rd Annual Global Awareness day are already underway, though the featured country is a secret closely guarded by the planning committee to be revealed next school year. Stay tuned!
