By Sam Elliott

Approximately 130 students representing nearly 30 countries will entertain, educate and feed visitors to Hamilton Southeastern High School’s eighth annual International Night.

The event, hosted by HSEHS’ World Connections Club, begins at 7 p.m. March 25 in the Leonard Auditorium before moving to the cafeteria.

“We’ve been doing it awhile and it gets bigger and better every year and we have more people come and participate,” HSEHS Spanish teacher and club leader Vicki Lazaga said. “This year we have about 130 club members and almost all of them are involved in some way.”

The first half of the evening will see students take the Leonard Auditorium stage to perform different cultural acts from their native countries.

“Kids will sing, dance, play musical instruments, we’ve had taw kwon do, this year one girl is going to do some Russian gymnastics — it’s just a wide variety of performing arts and talent,” Lazaga said. “From there we move to the cafeteria where students and their families and people from the community will set up tables that will have all kind of memorabilia, maps and food from their country. They’re there to talk about their country, to share the food or drink and it’s like a little international festival. The kids decorate their booths with posters and clothing and we encourage the kids to dress in their country’s traditional clothing and those kinds of things.”

Proceeds raised from the event will be donated to Matanya’s Hope, a charity organization which benefits children in Kenya.

“We’ve donated money to them and we’ve collected shoes and backpacks to help them in the past,” Lazaga said. “One of our students has a relative that’s connected with that organization.”

Tickets to International Night are $4 in advance and available at HSEHS and $5 at the door. For more, contact Lazaga at [email protected].