Whether they come from Naperville or from across the globe, students at Central have many different cultures.

From a young age, students are exposed to many aspects of their own culture, which may include cultural norms, language, symbols and arts.

Often, the students seek a stage to show their cultural passions and talents.

“When I say ‘culture,’ it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be from another country, because there is a lot in our own country that’s cultural,” Starke said. “A lot of kids have an interest in these different cultural aspects so it’s just nice to be able to give them a venue.”

This venue is the Multicultural Show, held on March 24. The show is in place students to display their cultural talents.

This event is planned, organized and hosted by Central’s Multicultural Club. The annual show was started more than nine years ago, according to co-sponsor and Communication Arts teacher Laura Starke.

Each year, the show has a new theme. This year, the theme is “City of Stars,” inspired by “La La Land.”

According to Phoebe Harmon, junior and president of Multicultural Club, the club gathers and brainstorms ideas until they find an idea they all agree upon.

Starke said that the sponsors try and give as much reign as possible to the club members.

“[The sponsors] are there to advise and guide people and have a framework in which everyone can work with,” Starke said.

The club of about 10 members meets all year but begins planning for the March show in January.

“I mostly just help make sure things run smoothly,” Harmon said. “As a club in general, after auditions, we generally go through all the acts and then cut them down to about 25-30 acts, and then we organize the schedule of the acts. Then we’re managing stuff backstage during the performances.”

Senior Shane Collins partook in the Multicultural Show for his freshman and sophomore year, and he will be performing this year as well. He will be performing his solo act, the Multilingual Medley, as well as in R41N, a K-Pop oriented no-cut dance group and Hawkapella, a no-cut all male vocal group.

The performers in the 2017 Multicultural Show will be putting on previews in the auditorium throughout the day on Friday, March 24, and the full show will be on March 24 at 7 p.m. and will cost $5.

“The Multicultural show holds a deep place of significance for me,” Collins said.  “For one thing, the show helped me overcome a significant amount of my performance anxiety, especially when it came to performing alone. What’s more than that is that I met countless new people and made numerous new friends by being part of the show.  The encouragement and common fellowship that performers shared was astounding to me at first blush, and it really made me feel like a part of Central.”