Hutchinson School didn’t let Covid-19 stop it from having its annual International Day. Parents and students did it virtually, with families submitting videos representing their various nationalities. There were 21 countries in all at the online event March 21.

International Day is the traditional annual event where Hutch families celebrate their differences and teach each other about their cultures or countries of origin. They make food, bring cultural objects and dance or sing music from their countries. But this year, due to the circumstances of Covid-19, they held it virtually, stringing together videos from the participating families.

“With the pandemic and so many events being canceled, we really wanted to be able to have one Hutchinson event,” said Heena Jain, Hutchinson PTA co-president. “Also, we really wanted to bring our community together. I had seen other successful virtual events in Pelham and thought, hey, we can do this. And thus, Virtual International Day was born.”

This year, Hutchison had students participate by sending a video of themselves either cooking, talking, dancing or sharing facts and interesting things about the countries they or their family came from. It was unique and had never been done before at Hutchinson.

“Creating a virtual version of the event took a lot of creativity and hard work,” said Kim Melloy, Hutchinson PTA co-president. “I am so proud of the International Day committee and our Hutchinson community for coming together and making this event happen during difficult circumstances.”

There were many amazing videos.

Mason Wan represented Hong Kong and preformed kung fu and danced with nunchucks and knives. Abby and Rebecca Sucena demonstrated Brazilian culture by singing and telling facts. The Loewy-McCormick family represented Switzerland and put on a skit about German words. The Greene family brought Guyana to the event with a video about the country.

There were many delicious recipes to learn as well.

Hutchinson’s Virtual International Day is on YouTube. The Hutchinson International Day Cookbook is for sale; contact [email protected] for more information.