June 5, 2026
Schools have welcomed CultureALL Ambassadors into classrooms for more than 20 years now. These children have become adults and a new generation is coming through. Let’s revisit 20 of these schools — one for each year of service — as we plan and prepare for the NEXT 20 years!
Attitudes change quickly when we meet someone whose life experiences are different from our own. When they open up and share a bit of themselves with us, we open up, too. Sometimes, it’s just that simple.
These are the kinds of experiences YOU provide for our community. Be part of the next 20 years by bringing CultureALL to your organization or donating today!
The inspiration for CultureALL was right here in Johnston where Founder Sherry Gupta’s children entered Kindergarten in 2003. The school’s 700 students spent a full day traveling from room to room at 40-min intervals where they got to meet one of the 30 teaching artists on site. Every classroom became a workshop. Each child participated in 8 distinct experiences. Sherry watched as the students and teachers passed through the hallways, so excited about what they had just learned.
At the end of this multicultural day when things quieted down, one of the cultural artists approached Sherry and said, “If you ever do another one of these, call me.” Twenty years later, West African drummer Anthony Stevens remains a CultureALL Ambassador.
Ten Ambassadors traveled to Fort Dodge at the request of Principal Ryan Flaherty. Principal Flaherty rolled out the red carpet treatment - he wanted this multicultural day for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May of 2024 to be a special day. Duncombe had a growing AAPI population and he wanted students and teachers to learn more about their cultures.
Upon arrival, students helped the Ambassadors find their classrooms and get set up. Gurwinder Kapur from Singapore had a student helper who was engaging, eager to be a huge support during the first workshop. Gurwinder enjoyed the child’s enthusiasm so much that they agreed to work together for every session.
Principal Flaherty told us later that this student habitually missed a lot of school, so he was surprised when the child never missed another day for the rest of the school year as a result of spending the day in the classroom with Gurwinder.
Students in Muscatine visited a traveling photo exhibit that showed various ways children sleep around the world. Their teacher, Krista Regennitter, knew that seeing photos wouldn’t be enough to appreciate differences. She wanted students to experience other cultures.
Ten CultureALL Ambassadors made the trip from Des Moines to Muscatine in July 2022 for Jefferson Elementary’s first multicultural day. The road trip was longer than most, but we spent the hours laughing together and learning more about each other. We were ready to inspire students to play music from Mexico, practice dances from the Philippines, create Moroccan mosaics, develop skills for navigating differences, and so much more.
Krista was delighted with the impact the workshops had on students. In her position as Program Officer for Global Education at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, she described the culture day from children’s perspectives: “They’re all Iowans! This global diversity is in our state. It’s not just out there. It’s here, too.” Then she added her own observation: “Kids are learning to pause and learn about another culture, not jump to judgment.”
“I was a little bit worried the students wouldn’t be open, comfortable and engaged.”
Teacher Linda Urbas was talking about her 7th grade English students in 2022 who were about to meet CultureALL Ambassador Francis Chan from South Sudan. In their town of 1200 people, 98% of the population is white. This would be the first time most of these students would meet a Black African man.
Linda’s class had been reading “A Long Walk to Water,” a novel by Linda Sue Park about children orphaned by the civil war in South Sudan. Now her students would hear first-hand from someone who lived through it.
“I was worried they wouldn’t relax enough to be themselves,” Linda said.
Her worries quickly dissipated as the students hung on every word Francis spoke. They asked questions and tried on the clothing he brought. They were so engaged they stayed an extra class period to continue the experience.
One student shared:
“It is important to learn about cultures outside of our small town so we don’t make fun of them if they wear different clothes or speak different languages. This helps us expand our knowledge about the world around us.”
One Ambassador stands out among the 40 who visited Stowe most often. Josie Shaw from Kenya taught 36 sessions across 8 years. A large number of students also met Abe Goldstien who shared Jewish culture and music, and Sonal Mistry who is a versatile artist from India — each of whom presented 25 sessions.
These engaging cultural activities supported by grants and individual donors give students a glimpse at how their lives might be different. By participating, they begin to see their world differently, imagining new opportunities and getting comfortable with different perspectives.
Click here to watch a video about Josie.
RJ Hernandez as a CultureALL Ambassador invites students to help present his workshop on Mexican music — with special attention to students who may get passed over in typical classrooms.
When Zaiden raised his hand to volunteer during RJ’s workshop with 3rd graders at Emerson Elementary in Indianola, RJ sensed a particular excitement. He was right. Zaiden filled the room with joy from being welcomed and accepted. He joined RJ in front of his classmates and learned to pluck the strings of the giant guitarrón. Zaiden had more questions for RJ about the many guitars and Mexican music when the workshop was done. It was time to say goodbye, but Zaiden had one last thing to do: a giant hug for the guitarrón.
CultureALL Ambassadors like RJ Hernandez have been boosting feelings of belonging in classrooms for 20 years. At Emerson Elementary in Indianola, students enjoyed their first Culture Day in March of 2023 when they met characters from Slavic fairytales with Oxana, performed Indian Folk Dances with Pragnya, and went on a musical tour of Mexico with RJ Hernandez.
Students in these two northwest Iowa towns experienced something extraordinary during school assemblies in April 2023. It was a new perspective: A dancing lion named Shishi. With a wooden mask and green-patterned cloth, Shishsi protects the community, warding off evil and misfortune. Good luck, health and prosperity come when Shishi bites you on the head with his golden teeth.
Okoboji and Spirit Lake residents participated in a series of Japanese art and culture activities — kimono tying, calligraphy, favorite childhood games, origami, and more. The local arts councils hosted community gatherings, while the schools transformed elementary classrooms into workshops for students.
The series was funded in part by a grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. The Japan America Society of Iowa worked closely with us on this project, especially through CultureALL Ambassadors Yoko Tanaka, Miki Takayama, Takeshi Hayasaka, and Tanis Sotelo.
Click here to read the full article.
Students at Willowbrook Elementary in the Southeast Polk District represented 18 countries and spoke 16 languages in 2023.
Amy Olesen is a teacher of English Language Learners who worked with CultureALL to plan the first Multicultural Day and Family Night. Four years later, it is an annual tradition.
“My ELL students saw that other kids thought the Multicultural Day was cool,” Amy said.
The school is working intentionally to create an environment that honors the life experiences of each student walking their halls.
“Sometimes, we want to hide that we’re different. We don’t want to speak another language in front of other people, or we want to hide that our family has a certain tradition. This culture day brought out to the forefront that it’s really cool to have these things about us that make us unique and that they’re valued and respected.”
Outside Amy’s classroom is a world map featuring all the places her students are from. She uses this to help all the children visualize the vast array of cultures enriching their school.
"I'm already having fun," said a student at Metro West Learning Academy. He was learning to make homemade tortillas from CultureALL Ambassador RJ Hernandez. "Cooking is so much fun, especially when it helps you learn new things."
Some students learn better when they aren’t reading a textbook.
That’s why Metro West Learning Academy, an alternative learning program supporting students from six area high schools in reaching graduation, chose to include CultureALL Ambassador workshops in their curriculum. Students received academic credit by attending the series of workshops and completing assignments that extended their learning.
This allowed students to reach their goals and set themselves up for success after graduation, all while learning about the cultures in their communities.
Watch news coverage of the event!
This college-prep boarding school near West Branch runs on Quaker values, including simplicity, open-mindedness, and equality. In 2024, the school asked CultureALL to create a new pathway for students to connect with older generations who continue to uphold the school’s founding philosophies.
At the time, Karen Downing was refining CultureALL’s Open Book program with help from AmeriCorps Fellow JJ Singh Kapur. JJ wanted to transform Open Book’s in-person format - adapting it to a digital, video-based “E-Book” project instead. The digital format made it easier for students to appreciate their own life stories in new ways, and to explore other’s realities more easily.
The Scattergood Friends’ pilot project proved that a thoughtful approach to technology in storytelling can create meaningful, positive change.
Click here to learn about Open Book and Zoom in on Culture.
Bergman Academy in Des Moines invited the Mexican folkloric dance group Sones de Mi Tierra to perform at “El Festival” in 2023.
This pre-kindergarten to 8th grade school has partnered with CultureALL every spring since 2014 to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
On this occasion, a school custodian named Alejandra heard the students dancing and singing. She walked up the stairs following the sound of music and laughter. A mixture of confusion and curiosity gave way to a bright smile as she watched. Then tears swelled. “I moved from Mexico to Iowa 23 years ago. I just love to see my other home represented here.”
Alejandra hugged the dancers as if they were long lost cousins. She told them, “I visited family in California last week and we danced just like this.”
Eason Elementary’s PTO has been dedicated to boosting a sense of belonging for students in Waukee even before working with CultureALL in 2012. They have the distinction of hosting 68 CultureALL Ambassadors over 12 years — the most years we’ve worked with any one school.
In 2024, their PTO posted:
Eason students had so much fun for Culture Day by CultureALL this year!
PTO president provided this review: “We loved this year! We were honestly pretty sure this was our last year with increasing cost, but after the rave reviews last week- we are going to continue in the future! Thanks for all you did to make this smooth and easy on our side of things! It would be great if we could get everyone back for next year!”
The school Principal agreed: “We had a great experience”
2009 was the first year Jordan Creek in West Des Moines asked CultureALL to present a Culture Day. From then on it was always on Valentine’s Day, sending a nice message about loving our neighbors.
One student in 4th grade that year was a Sikh boy whose parents had lived in Singapore and India.
The workshops he experienced made an impression that stayed with him more than 15 years later. In a letter he wrote:
"You didn’t just give me permission to be seen—you celebrated it. You turned difference into dialogue.
I carry with me the greatest lesson you ever taught me:
That everyone holds a story worth hearing.
That healing begins with being seen.
And that the bridges we build—inward and outward—can transform lives.
Thank you for twenty years of choosing community over isolation, understanding over fear, and story over stereotype.”
Across 11 years of working with Jordan Creek, the school hosted more Ambassadors (171) and workshops (1,174) than any other school.
Southeast Polk Junior High has a special day at the end of the school year for learning about the people and cultures living in the school district. Students often wear their traditional-culture attire and find ways to celebrate their families’ heritages.
A few years ago, CultureALL brought the school together for an assembly where students sleuthed out the identity of someone based on the artifacts found in a “Culture Box.” The experience brought to life the notion that a single person has many different aspects of culture and identity. Culture can show up in many forms and always goes much deeper than what can be observed on the surface.
At another assembly, there was a powerful learning moment — for students, staff, and CultureALL’s team, too. We all learned that stereotypes can hurt, even when no one intended to be mean about it. Such moments can be hard to navigate, because they are almost always nuanced with layers of perspectives. Our team spent time reflecting and discussing — because, after all, what is the value of living through an experience if we don’t learn and grow from it?
Click here to read the full story.
Students heard African music when they entered the classroom where CultureALL Ambassador Josie Shaw would teach them about Kenyan beading.
One young student danced as she sat in her seat — she couldn’t help it. Her family had moved to Iowa from Africa, so she knew the beat well. She explained to her teacher that the lyrics of the song were about love, and she nodded and smiled, agreeing with everything Josie shared about the weather and culture in African countries. Josie was helping the classmates understand where she came from.
The connections Josie made with students crossed cultures, too. One student whose parents came from Burma was dressed in her family’s traditional clothing. She grasped at her necklace of beads from Mainland Southeast Asia to show them off with pride when Josie explained that each tribe in Africa has a beading pattern that means something to them.
Katie Birdwell is more than a Social Studies teacher at Urbandale Middle School. She was our original workshop tester. In 2005, Katie opened her classroom to new interactive presentations by CultureALL (known at the time as World of Difference). Her students learned Japanese Kanji, Chinese martial arts, Persian mosaic tile art, life in Tanzanian, Muslim culture and customs, children’s games in Taiwan, and 6 other experiences during that same school year.
Thanks to Katie, CultureALL’s founder Sherry Gupta was able to observe the changes that happen when students interact with other cultures in an academic setting. They saw:
- A boy sit taller because his classmates tried learning the language he speaks at home
- A group of girls beam with pride that their friend knew how to do the same activities as the Ambassador
- A few rowdy students suddenly became deeply respectful when invited to participate in a sacred custom
- Students left the classroom feeling like they just opened a new window to a world of possibilities
Sadly, lack of school district funds to pay the Ambassadors for their presentations kept us out of Katie’s Global Studies classroom for several years. But recently we reconnected. Katie wanted to give students first-hand experience with a different set of North American traditions, like Americana music with "Freight Train Frank” Strong, and Native American ways of life with Eugene Fracek.
Katie explained why this was important to her:
“CultureALL teaches students that it’s okay to be different. It’s okay to appreciate differences and learn about them.”
“A lot of my friends and the students that I’ve talked to are really excited to learn about new cultures and see the different arts and music that they share,” said seventh-grader Emily B., as quoted in the Indianola Independent Advocate. “While organizing, we learn more about their culture,” she said, referring to the CultureALL Ambassadors, “and we learn how to organize an event. We learn how to make slides and teach other students expectations on how to behave” while participating in new experiences.
The 7th grade Gifted and Talented students have organized this tradition for the past 9 years or so. It’s one of the last things they do for their classmates before heading off for summer break.
This year, students will learn more about:
- History of Sikhism while learning to tie a turban
- Jewish family life while hearing about Avram and his Accordion
- African community while keeping the beat on a Djembe drum
- Native American beliefs while connecting old stories to tangible artifacts still used today
- Mexican geography while playing percussion in a guitar band
“We just want the kids to have different experiences and get to enjoy music and things like that, to just see different cultures and see there’s a connection…” said Language Arts teacher Shanice Lloyd in 2024, according to the Indianola Independent Advocate.
The Ballet invited CultureALL onto the main stage for three consecutive years to help students connect with a treasured holiday tradition — the Nutcracker Ballet.
The Nutcracker since its origin in 1892 has represented Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Spanish cultures — and some would say: with an imperialistic worldview.
The partnership with CultureALL showed students in today’s changing demographics that they have a place in the arts; that they can express themselves and their heritage through movement.
“Storytelling Through the Art of Dance” offered students a chance to see their cultures represented alongside professional Nutcracker dancers. CultureALL Ambassadors performed Classical Indian Bharatnatyam, Native Hawaiian Hula, Traditional Thai dance, and Japanese Taiko Drums, as well as Latin American Salsa, Mexican Folkloric, and Brazilian Capoeira performances. With each Ambassador, students participated in learning the movements.
Damon was a high school student at Orchard Place, where he received academic and counseling services to learn how to self-regulate his behavioral and mental health.
The school brought CultureALL in to facilitate a weeklong series about Africa, hoping to improve intercultural relations among students. On Monday, when CultureALL Ambassador Debi Tettey arrived for her workshop on African country of Togo, Damon's hostility was unmistakable. He rolled his eyes. He slumped in his chair. He muttered nasty comments under his breath. He stormed off to the back of the classroom as far away as he could get and refused to participate.
The other students were drawn to Debi. She showed them photos of her as a child at home in Togo, pounding a mortar and pestle with her siblings so their mom could make couscous. She brought all the ingredients for the class to prepare their own traditional lunch of couscous with chicken and vegetables.
The food smelled delicious, and Damon joined the class to eat some. After lunch they played a game called Ampé. Damon played too. He even smiled.
The next morning, when a new CultureALL Ambassador arrived, Damon greeted her with a big smile from the front row of the classroom. His hand rose, again and again, asking questions. He was eager to listen — not only to her presentation on Kenya, but also to the presentations of the other Ambassadors who visited the rest of the week.
From just that one experience, Damon's attitude toward Africans changed. Because of that, the classroom environment transformed, becoming a more peaceful and positive place for everyone.
A 12th grade student at Lincoln High School named Joe felt disconnected from his classmates. They didn’t show much interest in him, and he reciprocated in kind. He figured CultureALL’s project to explore culture through the art of photography in Mr. Harrison’s Sociology class would be “lame” and an easy grade. At the end of the program, Joe told an audience of 250 people attending a public Photo Exhibit and Artists’ Reception how wrong he’d been. The project, he said, not only helped him find common ground with some of his classmates; it also gave him permission to be different.
“I was born into a Mexican family and I’d like to keep our culture alive,” Joe said. “But because of my love of Hip Hop, I’ve become somewhat of a black sheep. I choose to embrace this side of me. It makes me different, and I know there are others like me. No matter what cultures we’re raised in, we can always choose our own.”
CultureALL’s photo project is proven to
- Boost student engagement in school (resulting in improved academic performance)
- Raise students’ self esteem
- Improve classroom and peer-to-peer interactions
- Develop students’ soft skills such as intercultural communications, global perspectives, and other interpersonal skills
- Help students realize how their own preconceived prejudices, judgments, and interpretations influence how they view other people and cultures.
"Photographs provide a unique way for students to tell their story. I am amazed by the respect and eagerness the students show in sharing their unique stories with each other.” She added, “ By the end of the program, students are more capable of seeing life from another person’s perspective and have achieved a better appreciation for their differences – as well as the many things that they have in common.” - Lynn Hoff, a teacher at East High
Click here to learn about Zoom in on Culture photo ethnography projects.
Increase your impact by visiting us at CultureALL.org/donate.
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