Students at Cape Coral High School who have a passion for exploring and celebrating various cultures are invited to join Cape High’s Culture Club. This club was launched during the 2024-2025 school year by seniors Amina Syed and Daniela Cortez Riega. Meetings take place once a month on Mondays, and all students are welcome to participate.
Each meeting emphasizes a unique theme. In their recent gathering, members brought dishes from their respective countries, with Mrs. Toadvine, the club’s sponsor, noting, “Everyone brought a different food based on their nationality,” including favorites like guacamole and churros. Previous meetings have featured discussions on “New Year celebrations around the world, or Thanksgiving traditions, Christmas traditions,” as Toadvine explained.
Syed and Cortez Riega both hail from outside the U.S. Syed is from Pakistan, while Cortez Riega is from Peru. They recognized that many of their peers at Cape High also come from diverse backgrounds and felt that the Culture Club would be “a good way to promote other cultures within the school” and “bring people together,” according to Cortez Riega.
Having faced bullying, Syed remarked, “There’s definitely misinterpretations of different cultures in this generation.” She expressed that one of her personal goals was to embrace the school’s diversity, a mission she achieved through the establishment of the Culture Club.
Toadvine highlighted the importance of the Culture Club, stating its purpose is to “learn about other cultures, appreciate other cultures, and have an understanding of other cultures and diversities,” ultimately, “to promote cultural awareness and acceptance.”
The sense of community in the Culture Club is a significant draw for many members. Cortez Riega described it as “a community of different cultures being brought together.” Sophomore Miley Rodriguez Bombino, who has attended only a few meetings, shared that she “just feel[s] super at home.” She added, “It’s super comfortable there. Everyone’s really friendly [and] it’s very welcoming,” noting that “they’re super nice in there.”
Members primarily join Culture Club out of a desire to broaden their understanding of different cultures and build community connections. Rodriguez Bombino shared, “I joined because I was interested in expanding [my] knowledge on customs of different places, and about different peoples’ values, and just getting to know a lot of different perspectives.”
Looking ahead, Syed and Cortez Riega need to identify new officers to succeed them, as both will be graduating next year. Syed expressed her hope to leave Culture Club “in the hands of valuable students who can continue the club after we’re gone and share the same passion that we do for it.” Cortez Riega added that they are “hoping that the people [they] choose are able to carry on the club and [their] goal, which is to just promote cultures [and] learn about them.”
