Thanksgiving Celebration at ORT

Thanksgiving at ORTORT students, faculty and staff joined together to celebrate Thanksgiving on November 24, 2009.  Beforehand students in all ESL classes learned about Thanksgiving history, legend and traditions related to this great American holiday.  They made posters creatively representing their ideas and feelings about Thanksgiving.  The students produced some beautiful collages around the themes of gratitude, autumn and the holiday. 

The school supplied the turkey for about 400 students, faculty and staff and students brought dishes representing their diverse traditions and cultures to share.  There was food from all over the world so everyone had a chance to try something new.  “I tried foods from the whole world in one day” stated one student from Poland. “I learned Assyrian dancing,” a student from Belarus shared her joy with us. “It was the first time we tried turkey in our life,” several Korean students told the reporter.  For many students, it was the first time celebrating Thanksgiving in the US. “We feel like a family at ORT, we are learning not only English, but also American traditions and culture”, ORT students’ opinion.

The school director, Marina Chudnovsky, spoke to the students and expressed her own appreciation for being in this country and her gratitude for our students who make the school such a wonderful place to work, study and learn.  She then distributed small gifts to the students to express ORT’s appreciation for their participation at school in general and in the creative Thanksgiving poster project in particular.   

The celebration ended with singing and dancing led by the students and a new tradition was born, the celebration of Thanksgiving together with the entire ORT family: students, faculty and staff.

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