On January 17, many students and their families came together in the Woodgrove cafeteria to participate in International Food Night, where they sampled foods from around the globe. International Food Night has changed through the years, and those involved have overcome many challenges.
One of the issues that affected International Food Night in the past was lack of marketing. Mr. Matthew Talboo, the sponsor of Global Ambassador Club who organized much of International Food Night, explained how they fixed this issue. “Our students now have learned that sending an email does not get people to do anything because people get thousands of emails, about thousands of things, so now we literally go to the homerooms and advertis[e] directly,” he said.
Another problem was the fear of not having enough food. Kennedy Dehler, Co-President of Global Ambassadors, explained their potential fix and what they settled on, saying, “This year we considered charging money to go to International Food Night, because we do always worry about not having enough food for people. But this year, instead of doing that, we started requiring bringing food, so that it would even out a little more food.”
International Food Night has also had an addition to its location. Dehler states, “The real big difference in International Food Night now versus before is that we use the aux gym too now. It used to just all be in the cafeteria, so we’ve had to think about two spaces ”
Talboo touched upon how he and Global Ambassadors coordinated such an event. He explained, “We have an amazing group of people at Woodgrove… We have Mr. Schutte, who is an amazing help. We have Dr. Shipp, who is an incredible supporter of our activities. We have Mrs. Jackson, who is an incredible custodial leader. Everybody at this school is super receptive, because we have very solid and professional staff.” Even though this year’s International Food Night has already come and gone, next year’s is coming up fast and will be better than the last.