Worldfest

On April 23, Centennial’s National Honor Society hosted Worldfest. This event has been an annual tradition for years, but because of the pandemic, was moved to an online setting. 

The evening began at 3:45pm as one big meet, with over 100 students and teachers present. There were three guest speakers, County Council member Elizabeth Walsh, Howard County Superintendent Michael Martirano, and Mary E Nitsch, the director of International Programs and Office of International Investment and Trade at the Maryland Department of Commerce. Each of the speakers talked for about five minutes as students trickled in.

After the opening for the events, students moved into breakout rooms. Instead of having one big meet, the NHS decided to create a bunch of different rooms with workshops from countries across the world. There were a total of 22 countries represented, with all different activities, ranging from an Anime viewing party for Japan to an Irish Dance workshop for Ireland to a Halo Halo cooking show from the Philippines.

Senior Lizz Stroud ran the Ireland workshop, where she taught and performed a couple of steps for the attendees. “My favorite part was when our breakout room warmed up and people turned on their cameras to learn [the dance],” said Stroud. Although it took a bit for the attendees to branch out, Stroud managed to get almost half of the room to turn their cameras on and participate by the end of Ireland’s allotted 30 minutes.

The country ‘tour’ lasted for the rest of the night as students bounced between rooms, ending at 8:00pm with an informational session on Germany, which included a kahoot and chances to win a certificate. 

While this was not the first time Worldfest has been put on, it is the first time it has been fully run as a virtual event, adapted to the struggles of the pandemic.

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