08 Oct 2018
Doha, 8 October 2018. Aspire Academy Dormitory Green Area, was awash with colour from more than 60 national flags as the Academy celebrated the 8th annual “Aspire Global Citizenship Day”, bringing more than 65 nationalities and their unique cultures under its roof. Aspire Academy organises this event to celebrate and introduce student-athletes to cultural and ethnic diversity that is paramount to the success of the Academy.
To mark the event, Aspire Academy stuff turned out in outfits and regalia representative of their countries of origin while showcasing some of their different countries heritage, foods, historical artifacts and other exhibits. Teachers were in some cases joined by parents and staff from different Embassies accredited in Qatar to at these national stands where they engaged and explained their exhibitions to all who passed by.
Speaking about the event, School Principal at Aspire Academy, Jassim Al Jaber said: “Aspire Academy is made up staff and students come from various ethnic and religious backgrounds, which presents a unique learning opportunity for students. The Academy’s diverse workforce exposes student-athletes to people from all over the world, helping develop well-rounded and well-educated sports champions.”
Mr Salah Al-Yafii, Head of leadership development at Aspire Academy School added, “It is one of the highlights of our academic year and brings full enjoyment and satisfaction to all involved. The value and importance of Global Citizenship Day is immense to our community and we learn so much more from each other through such an event and as you can see it is thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and the turnout is huge especially from students.”
“This is a fantastic initiative from Aspire, which allows our students to see and experience different cultures from around the world. As international athletes, our students should be exposed to these type of initiatives and opportunities, so they can experience these before they travel and as they interact with people from around the world,” said John Erickson, Education Technology Specialist at Aspire from the United States of America.
Aspire students thronged to the Green Area in their numbers and one of them, Hamad Al Amri, remarked, “This initiative helps me a lot to know about other countries and when l travel for competition to some of these places the knowledge l already have gathered from “Global Citizenship Days”, comes in so handy, so it’s a really helpful and enjoyable event.”
Adding on to the remarks one of the event organisers, Mr. Mohamed Ali Alserooqi, Aspire Academy School Leadership Development team said, “There are more than 60 nationalities from around the world at Aspire Academy, which presents a unique opportunity for the students and faculty to learn about and interact with different cultures and traditions, gaining valuable insights. This day plays a critical role in supports our efforts to nature students who possess a well-rounded global perspective.”
The concept of global citizenship is a key pillar in Aspire Academy’s educational philosophy and supports the Academy’s different approaches to multicultural education, education for sustainable development and international education. The Academy’s efforts to organise such an event stems from its belief in the role of educators as agents of social change, bringing new perspectives on understanding the self in relation to a global community within the holistic educational experience for the Academy’s student-athletes. This perspective follows a curriculum that attends to human values and beliefs, global systems, issues, history and cross-cultural understandings.