Palmyra Area High School’s Be The Change club celebrated springtime’s colors with colors of their own on Friday for a Holi celebration.
Holi, also known as the Festival of Colors, is a Hindu celebration. It marks the arrival of spring and the victory of good over evil.
Palmyra’s celebration was loud with booming music and laughter as community members chased each other with the colored powder.
Aayusha Dangal, sophomore and co-president of Be The Change, said it took about a month to plan the event, and she was very happy with how it turned out.
Dangal said the club meets each week during “Prime Time,” a flexible day where students can sign up to finish schoolwork for classes or do activities throughout the building. Club members pitch ideas for events they’d like to organize. Then, they plan who will bring food, supplies, and, in the case of the Holi celebration, white t-shirts that let the rainbow powders pop.
“When everybody gets together, it’s just so much fun. Even strangers that you don’t even know, you just put this on their face and you’re friends,” she said. “I love the chaos. It’s how I expected it to be.”
Be The Change is a multicultural club for the high school. It allows students to introduce each other to their unique holidays, traditions, and food.
The increasing diversity of the school was mirrored during the celebration. Dangal said events like this are great for education and connecting with others.
“I think having this event is really important because it’s just a way to show the cultural diversity of the community,” she said. “Everybody else can see that we’re here, and this is what we celebrate.”
Junior Tracy Lin is the other co-president of the club. She said she and Dangal both had the idea to start a multicultural club around the same time, so they joined forces.
She also said that highlighting cultures through events like the Holi celebration is important. They have also celebrated Chinese New Year and are planning an Easter event.
“I think it’s important, even in small communities like this,” she said. “I think it turned out super well — everyone’s having fun.”
As she spoke, kids scraped at the tables for the last dregs of colorful powder to throw at unsuspecting victims.
But more bags were dropped onto the table and torn open. The colors were flying once again.
Valerie Carroll, faculty adviser for Be The Change, said all of the events so far have been based on the students’ ideas and planning efforts.
“They wanted to celebrate Holi, and I was like, ‘Go ahead.’ All I did was get some colored powder,” she said. “It’s all student-run. They’re the ones who make the decisions.”
Carroll said she loved the energy the event brought, and she learned a lot about how welcoming different cultures are.
“I think they’re just happy to be recognized and included, and they are so welcoming of everybody else who comes,” she said. “What I found with my students, not just my students with India and Nepal, but the students are so very welcoming of everyone. I think that’s part of their culture. I really want everyone to have an opportunity to understand.”
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