2017 Ben Franklin High School International Festival

Benjamin Franklin High School will celebrate diverse cultures at an International Festival Saturday, April 22, 2017 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the school’s campus, 2001 Leon C. Simon Dr.  

The 2017 International Festival comprises 19 booths from 17 participating student clubs, including the Architecture Society, Peer Assistance Team, Chinese Culture Club, Amnesty International and Gender Sexuality Alliance. Each club has adopted a country and chosen to serve food, run an activity or sell a craft.  

Club members also thought of how best to use the money they raise, which vary but include charities that resolve polluted water issues in Swaziland or work toward LGBT tolerance in Brazil. Other clubs will use the proceeds to pay tournament fees (Speech and Debate) or attend conventions such as the Junior Classical League Convention (Latin Club) and Key Club District Convention (Key Club).  

The Senior Steps in the school’s courtyard will feature a raffle at the top of every hour, for which attendees must be present to win, and a full slate of performances from individual student and faculty musicians; student clubs such as Poetry Out Loud, the Drama Club, the Majorettes and the Asian Pacific Club; and external performers including Capoeira New Orleans.
 

Originally conceived as a fundraiser to send students abroad for exchange programs, the festival was first held at the Deutsches Haus and moved to campus in 2014. It is now held in conjunction with the Ben Franklin Alumni Association’s annual Alumni Crawfish Boil, which this year will serve over 1,000 pounds of crawfish.
 
Admission is free and open to the public. A passport raffle for current students and incoming freshmen entails getting one’s passport stamped at five different booths for a chance to win six tickets to the senior baccalaureate brunch, or $500 off school fees for the 2017-2018 school year.
 
The school has posted many details about the festival on its Instagram account, benfranklin_hs, duplicated on the event’s Facebook page.