When students, parents, and faculty from Midlo signed on to a Google Meet for the 2021 International Festival, they were greeted with a montage video created by the International Baccalaureate program showcasing highlights from 2020’s International Festival. The reel showed participants of the previous year’s festival eating, talking, and watching the yearly performances and fashion show. After a short opening ceremony, IB Parent Council President Ms. Annette Ruzicka thanked the IBPC, IB Students Council, IBPC Information Technology Chair Mr. Bobby Holliday, performers, and all volunteers who helped put together the festival.

All performances were pre-recorded for the event, which IBSC President Olivia Nealon said “prevented any mistakes that could have been made in person.” Junior Grayden Holliday kicked off the performances with a piano piece recorded at Midlo. Following Holliday, juniors Sofia Craig and Brayden Thomas displayed a martial arts demonstration featuring combination kicks and punches. Then, the Midlo Pit Orchestra performed two musical pieces led by Mr. Taylor Fletcher, Midlo’s orchestra teacher. To wrap up the performances, Fletcher, Mr. Mark Spewak, Mr. Drew Davis and Mr. Daniel Cheatham, better known as The Rusty Buckets, played and sang an original song. 

The 2021 Fashion show, arranged by junior Sreeman Venigalla, featured Indian and Pakistani clothing from the families of Venigalla and Lola Quraishi. Following the fashion show, the cultural booths each gave presentations about the countries they represented. Ms. Amy Petersen commenced the cultural booths by giving an informative presentation about how to put on a Roman toga. Next, Ms. Anna Macellaro taught attendees about Danish culture including their famous beach known as cold Hawaii and Danish tongue-twisters. Ms. Hannah Foster and the Midlo French program showed international cuisine from French-speaking countries, which incorporated ratatouille and 400 kinds of French cheese. Finally, Ms. Anina Witherow gave a presentation about Denmark, which focused on the differences in social life between America and Denmark. 

The International Festival both started and ended with a word from Ms. Ruzicka on behalf of the IBPC. “There is no replacement for being together as a community, but we can still all support and learn from each other on the virtual platform,” said Ruzicka.