Wilson’s annual ‘International Night,’ a fundraiser for the Wilson International Program Studies academy (WISP), occurred on Wednesday, March 13. The event is run by teacher, student, and parent volunteers and aims for Wilson students to be further immersed in different cultures.

WISP is one of eight academies at Wilson, and aims for students to develop an appreciation of different cultures and gain awareness of careers related to international affairs.

This year, Jennifer Brown, an Area Studies teacher at Wilson and WISP teacher, led the event. Teachers Robert Geremia, Patrick Cassidy, and Aaron Besser are also among WISP teachers who helped make the event possible.

International night requires volunteers, so Brown formed committees of teacher, then sub-committees of teachers, in order to get students involved. WISP teachers, along with World Language teachers, asked their students to help. For volunteering, students could earn either community service hours or extra credit for class as incentives.

For a five dollar admission fee, International Night offered activities including dancing, music, cultural booths, and tasting a variety of international dishes brought in by volunteers.

Logan McClure, a sophomore at Wilson, was asked to volunteer by his Spanish teacher, Susana Martinez Rincon. “I like seeing all of the different cultures and we get extra credit,” McClure said. In addition to volunteering, McClure also brought bratwurst and sauerkraut, German foods traditional to his heritage.

The WISP parent committee is also an integral part in planning in running the event. Beverly Darnell, a parent of a student at Wilson, has volunteered for two years and said that the event was, “much bigger than last year, which is great.” Darnell was in charge of managing the food, and created spreadsheets online that allowed for parents to sign up and say what dishes they were bringing.