One of the questions I feel I always get asked as a Miss Minnesota contestant is “If you had to choose a platform other than the one you have now and CMN; what would your new platform be?” My platform Dance this Weigh: Physical Activity for a Healthy Life is my life’s passion. I love teaching our state how to live a healthier and longer life but if I HAD to choose another platform topic I would base my platform on celebrating our differences-diversity. I currently work at a culturally diverse elementary school. I love working with my students and together finding commonality between peers while celebrating our differences.
Today we had an all school morning meeting presented by Tou Ger Xiong. Tou Ger Xiong is a Hmong man who shares hilarious stories about his life history. He captivated the students with funny stories, entertaining rap songs, and great jokes. His performance began with his experiences coming to America from Loas and the Hmong culture. He then talked to the students about being bullied by his classmates. He shared storied of how his classmates would make fun of his eye shape or how he talked. His final message to the children was, “If we all looked and talked the same life would be pretty boring; it would be like coloring a picture with only one color crayon.”
Personally, I love to learn all about different cultures. I feel it is important to embrace our differences to better understand our peers but it is also special to find similarities between cultures. We have different skin colors, different dialects when we talk, and even different traditional foods to eat. One similarity among ALL cultures is the importance of living a healthy life (this may sound corny but it is something we all do have in common). We all want to live a full, long life and the best way to ensure that is to eat healthy and stay physically active.
Dance this Weigh encompasses ALL cultures and offers a way for EVERYONE to come together to share our common goal of being healthy. Let’s celebrate diversity and Dance this Weigh together!
(Below are pictures of Tou Ger Xiong’s presentation. Sorry they are blurry but they are pictures of him storytelling, rapping, and taking pictures with students)
Today we had an all school morning meeting presented by Tou Ger Xiong. Tou Ger Xiong is a Hmong man who shares hilarious stories about his life history. He captivated the students with funny stories, entertaining rap songs, and great jokes. His performance began with his experiences coming to America from Loas and the Hmong culture. He then talked to the students about being bullied by his classmates. He shared storied of how his classmates would make fun of his eye shape or how he talked. His final message to the children was, “If we all looked and talked the same life would be pretty boring; it would be like coloring a picture with only one color crayon.”
Personally, I love to learn all about different cultures. I feel it is important to embrace our differences to better understand our peers but it is also special to find similarities between cultures. We have different skin colors, different dialects when we talk, and even different traditional foods to eat. One similarity among ALL cultures is the importance of living a healthy life (this may sound corny but it is something we all do have in common). We all want to live a full, long life and the best way to ensure that is to eat healthy and stay physically active.
Dance this Weigh encompasses ALL cultures and offers a way for EVERYONE to come together to share our common goal of being healthy. Let’s celebrate diversity and Dance this Weigh together!
(Below are pictures of Tou Ger Xiong’s presentation. Sorry they are blurry but they are pictures of him storytelling, rapping, and taking pictures with students)