Heritage Night is set on March. 8 this year, which means that Annandale’s biggest event is just around the corner! With tickets rapidly selling out every year, everyone is eagerly awaiting the spectacle.
Heritage Night not only attracts attendees seeking support and representation for their own countries, but also ensures insights into various countries and cultural backgrounds. It serves as a powerful representation of what it truly means to be part of AHS’s exceptionally diverse community.
The annual Inclusion Revolution Spirit Week leads up to Heritage Night every year, to celebrate the spirit of inclusivity, unity, and diversity.
In the upcoming Inclusion Revolution Spirit Week, AHS will host Fanquest, featuring Category B students from the Special Olympics team.
Additionally, the week will feature five spirit days with various themes, providing students with the opportunity to dress up collectively. Through inclusive sports engagement and themed attire, the Spirit Week initiative aims to foster a sense of unity within the school community, encouraging participation and connection among students.
To prepare for the occasion, country groups have been making consistent efforts to practice outside of school to ensure that their performances are stage-ready. The program consists of two parts: a fashion show, and a performance/dance event.
Group leaders completed the work of filling out documents requesting song clips, lighting, background colors, and performance durations.
Although groups are responsible for preparing their own performances, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes action taking place among individuals behind the stage who organize and control the event’s operations.
So who is in charge of making the event happen? Health and Physical Education and Leadership Teachers Selvana Ayoub and Madison Morella are the official Heritage Night sponsors this year who are in charge of regulating and organizing the entire event. Ayoub shared her thoughts on her experience overseeing the event for the first time.
What kind of work goes into planning Heritage Night?
“A lot of work goes into planning Heritage Night. First, is setting the date. Once the date is set up, we set up dress rehearsals. Then we start collecting information that is needed for a successful performance on Heritage Night. We send out a number of forms for students to complete from interest forms, forms for team leaders and sponsors, rosters, audio for fashion show/performance and light. We also oversee where admin will be stationed to help us out, how sponsors will be helping us and security as well. We oversee the green rooms being used, how students will be entering and exiting the stage, ticket sales, number of seats to sell for the night and many other details. All this is vital information to allow for a successful Heritage Night.”
What do you look forward to for Heritage Night?
“I look forward to seeing the amount of students who get excited for this special night. I also look forward to seeing all the family and friends in our community come out and support Heritage Night. It truly is a magical night.”
What has worked well in planning Heritage Night?
“What has worked well this year for planning Heritage Night is having the different information needed due at different times. The most basic information which is group leader and sponsor was the first form due. Which then allowed us to know how many groups will be participating in Heritage Night. It also helped us with being in constant communication with group leaders because instead of contacting hundreds of participants, we were in contact with 20 leaders instead.”
What are some difficulties you faced planning Heritage Night?
“Some difficulties with planning Heritage Night is the amount of work and detail that goes into it. We need to ensure that every group’s audio and light cues are correct which takes time. Then we run into difficulties when groups want to change audio or lighting cues because programming this information takes weeks and hours upon hours of work. Changing one thing means we need to delete everything programmed and start all over.”
What was done differently this year?
“A few things we did differently this year for planning Heritage Night is to have two dress rehearsals instead of one. We also had audio and light cues due five weeks before Heritage Night to allow time to program everything in without being rushed or missing details.”
Anything else you would like to share?
“I would like to thank everyone that is helping us with making Heritage Night successful. It truly is a magical night and would not be able to pull it off without the Admin team, Security team, Leadership students, theater tech students, Sponsors, and our community. A lot of work gets put into Heritage Night but watching the magic happen on this beautiful night is absolutely amazing.”
Heritage Night is a great time for student, staff, and family to come out and celebrate the diversity, talent, and community at AHS. While tickets sold out quickly, we hope to see everyone on March 8!
