I went around at SSFS asking people about how they portray their national and religious identities at SSFS. In one of my interviews, I asked Sebastian Goodman, a junior who was born in Colombia, how he portrayed his culture and he responded, “The most I do to portray my culture is speak Spanish. Other than that I don’t really portray my culture here because some people might take offense to things I say in my culture.”

Min Woo, a junior from South Korea, says that he doesn’t share his culture very often at Sandy Spring. When asked why, he explained, “They don’t give international students enough chances so I don’t get the opportunity to portray my culture here.” This reflects a larger phenomenon of students who are deeply attached to different traditional cultures and ethnicities either not regularly thinking to or not feeling as if they have the opportunities to portray their cultures at SSFS.

I was also interested in interviewing students about their religious cultures. I found that people portray their religious customs and beliefs more frequently at SSFS than they might their national heritage. Many people at the school do things to portray their religion in extremely distinct ways.

Steven Aldridge, a senior who is Christian, said he speaks publicly about his Christianity. He added, “Sometimes I talk to friends about it and I pray before a test that I don’t feel confident about.” Steven is passionate about sharing his religion because he “feels that religion is something that unites people and brings them together.”

Finally, I interviewed Samaa Eldadah, a junior at SSFS whose Muslim identity is central to her daily life. Samaa explained, “I feel like a representative of the Muslim community because I am the only person at SSFS who wears hijab.” When asked about her reasoning for continuing to be publicly Muslim through her dress, Samaa said that being a representative of her culture makes her a better person and she wants to be “the best person I can be all the time.”

While I only talked about religion and traditional culture with a few select student at SSFS, what emerged is a snapshot of a school with students from many different backgrounds, all navigating them as best they can.