The Falls Church High School annual                                                                                                                                     Heritage Night was on Friday, February
17, and tons of work was put in to
make it the best one yet! Heritage Night is
an annual event hosted by Leadership, and
features tons of different cultural foods,
performances, and students from all over
the world. It is primarily run by Leadership
students and the two Leadership
teachers, Ms. Sherman and Mr. Mahan.

Heritage Night kicked off at 5:30,
when the pre-show began. Food was
served from all over the world, including
Chinese, Mexican, American, and Indian
food catered from many local restaurants.
This is a unique experience that some
students are not usually exposed to, and
including it in the night definitely helps
make it memorable.

The show started at 7:00, with the
opening remarks of Erin Poplin (11) and
Patrick Gutual (11). The show was led
by a variety of Leadership emcees. Performances
of the first act included the
FCHS A Cappella group, Acorde, performing
“Wild Things” by Alessia Cara,
with a standout solo by Danielle Phan
(11). Andres Aguirre (12) blew everyone
away with his poem “Soldier Eyes,” which
focused on many current events in our
country.

Madame Olsen’s French class presented
the Francophone Flags– French-speaking
countries. The first act closed with the breakdancing
group, Legacy, blowing away everyone
with their dance performance to a mashup of
songs. Intermission was around fifteen minutes, and
snacks were sold by the Junior Class. The refreshment
table was bombarded by the barrage
of hungry audience members.

Once everyone was refreshed and back
in the auditorium, it was time to begin Act Two.
It kicked off with Kyle Mallari’s (12) Martial
Arts routine, which awed and intimidated the
audience equally. Olivia Rogers (11) played the
piano and sang an original song titled “Fall For
You.” Kiran Cardozo (12) performed an Indian
Dance routine that had the audience out of
their seats cheering.

The closing act was the annual Fashion
Show, where students represent fashion
from different countries around the world. It is
definitely a fan favorite, and definitely brought
themes of both diversity and unity as a school
to the evening. The night closed with globe balloons
and beach balls falling from the ceiling,
in what definitely helped excite the audience
one last time.

Heritage Night was a success, and hopefully
will be for years to come.