As Lowell continuously makes efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, GlobeFest is a way to that the school makes these strides. On March 22nd, the GlobeFest fundraising event for the World Language Department was held from block 3 to 7. Students surrounded the stands, buying food from booths run by language clubs. The funds were equally divided to the World Language Lab (which is not funded by the district) and to the World Language Teacher Reserve, according to World Language department head John Raya.

Although it only lasts for a few hours, setting up for GlobeFest takes a lot of time and effort, and is a part of the event that is often overlooked. Earlier that day, volunteers gathered to set up the event, with decidedly mixed results. “It was kind of chaotic,” sophomore Tarsa Yuen said, “because a lot of the time it wasn’t really clearly labeled, and on top of that it was like, they were also setting up all the flags so it was just people everywhere trying to do everything at the same time. It was pretty messy.”

Yuen’s experience was not universally shared, however. “I thought it was pretty organized and I felt like it went by pretty quickly,” sophomore Joshua Herrera said.

In addition to booth setup, a substantial amount of planning went into preparing individual servings of food. A major component of this is making sure there is a sufficient amount of food available, as well as selecting the food. “We have to prepare about a week before so we can get the food,” sophomore Lucy Zhu said. “Then once we get the food, we try not to sell out, so we have to distribute them out equally.”

Setting up for the event takes long-term planning as well. For Raya, preparing for GlobeFest is almost like a full-time job. “It’s ordering tickets, it’s preparing the entertainment, it’s getting the food booths organized, finding out the prices of everything, getting good with the school on when can we use the Meyer library, yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it,” he said.

Despite this, Raya and the volunteers at GlobeFest believe that hosting events like these are important for the school. “Not only are you supporting your classmates and everyone else, you might be able to take part in learning a new culture, maybe try some like food you’ve never tried before,” Yuen said. Raya also agrees with this, and even though setting up takes weeks of preparation, he sees it as an way that both those involved in the event and the students who attend can come together and create a greater sense of unity in the school.