Zachary Groz photo
Classmates Robina, Faryal, and Ghofran, at Troup's annual multicultural luncheon.
Sitting around a lunch table draped in an aquamarine cloth and topped with festive fall ornaments, Robina, 10, Faryal, 12, and Ghofran, 12, giggled and cracked jokes, translating them into English after the fact, in between bites of fried chicken, bread rolls, and rice.
They were among more than 100 students and parents at the Augusta Lewis Troup School who gathered last Wednesday afternoon for the school’s sixth annual multicultural luncheon.
Like many students at the Edgewood Avenue public school, Robina, Faryal, and Ghofran are new arrivals in New Haven.
Robina came to the Elm City from Afghanistan, Faryal from Pakistan, and Ghofran from Syria. Other students have come from countries ranging from Ecuador to El Salvador to Ethiopia to Ghana.
Fifty eight out of a student body of 340 are enrolled in English as a Second Language classes, according to full-time English-language learner (ELL) teacher Ann Beardsley. More have graduated from the program.
At the luncheon, flags from 15 countries and Puerto Rico lined the auditorium walls, representing where the kids hail from.
“The kids are very respectful of different backgrounds,” said Troup Principal Eugene Foreman. “They help the students who don’t speak English, they work with them. We have some students who speak the same languages as those kids so they’ll kind of work with them as well.”
As the luncheon began, dozens of 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders filed into the auditorium by classroom, dropped their bags off, and hung up their coats. Then, below a huge projector screen playing Home Alone 2, each grade lined up for the main event: the food.
Martine Marcellus, who has taught special education at Troup for the last two years, spent the whole morning cooking up a storm for the kids: Haitian baked mac and cheese, rice and beans with sofrito, parsley, and thyme.
“A lot are not going to have anything tomorrow,” Marcellus said, “and they get to eat with their friends, which makes it special.”
In previous years, the luncheon happened in two waves: 5th and 6th first, 7th and 8th next. This year, thanks to new funding, the school had enough chairs to accommodate all four grades together at once, and to invite parents and siblings.
On the half day before Thanksgiving, which typically poses challenges with attendance, about 90 percent of the upper classes came to school. Dozens of staff volunteered to help out in one way or another, by cooking or setting up the decorations, and the tall-ceilinged room felt full and homey. “One student told me, ‘it’s like a family reunion,’” said Ms. G, who teaches 6th grade.
Loudine Mathis, whose grandson Jayden, 10, goes to Troup, had heard about the event early in the week through an announcement sent out on Class Dojo, an online portal, by school Culture and Climate Specialist Da’Jhon Jett, who spearheaded the luncheon. Mathis said she’s already looking forward to next year.
“They have so many kids of different cultures, different foods. My culture is Caribbean,” she said. “Next year, I will try to keep more in touch with it, cook a few dishes, like curried chicken.”
At Wednesday's festive pre-Thanksgiving lunch.
