The week of November 18, 2024, will look a little bit different than usual for Seattle Prep students. It marks the first ever Global Perspectives Week, a new event planned by the school that aims to educate students about different cultures around the world.

The week will feature many activities and games for students to participate in, and the highlight is the Community Day on Wednesday, November 20,

The experience is the idea of native German teacher Frau Khouri, who says her international background inspired her to teach students about cultures different from their own.

“We want to highlight students who come who have different backgrounds, different heritage heritages and different languages they speak at home and that is,” Khouri explains. “I started a new life when I moved to America. It was very exciting for me, and I saw that things are very different here. Some things are similar, [but a lot] is different.”

Khouri believes that the most important thing students can learn from their language classes is not vocabulary or grammar, but the traditions of lifestyle of people from other countries, people who they would not usually learn about or interact with.

“As a teacher, I want to inspire students to look above the classroom and the vocab quiz, and really get some cultural information from their language class,” Khouri said.

The cultural understanding that Frau Khouri hopes to instill in students is part of what creates the transformational leaders that we strive to be here at Prep. “Learning about different cultures promotes cultural understanding, and that understanding promotes peace. This is how we coexist as people and create a peaceful world.