This month at Xinhua Academy, we are focusing on integrity, the quality of sticking to your own set of rules no matter what. Who best to celebrate it with than everyone’s favorite lazy cat, Garfield! Garfield is a comic book character from America that people would read in the weekly newspaper.

June 19’th was international Garfield day so we celebrated by having a cooking contest! Each class made their own version of Garfield’s favorite food, lasagna. Together, we learned cooking skills, kitchen vocabulary, and the taste of foreign cuisine.

Grade 8 chose to make a Korean version of lasagna with kimchi and fish sauce. I may be biased but this was definitely the best tasting dish.

Grade 9 went with a more traditional beef and tomato sauce lasagna. Can’t go wrong with a classic!

Grade 10 split into two teams to make spicy pork lasagna and chicken lasagna (secretly named MLVRTH lasagna.) We ate every animal that day!

Three hours later, the lasagna’s were cooked and arranged for students to come admire. Also pictured here are Grade 7’s Oreo cream lasagna and Grade 5’s “Best Lasagna Ever” who’s recipe remains a secret to this day!

It wasn’t long before hungry teachers and students descended upon the helpless dishes. Garfield would be honored to know that not a single morsel of food remained and everyone left full.

What a great learning experience for the International Integration Department at Xinhua Academy. Celebrating quirky holidays such as Garfield Day opens up our students’ eyes to the vast amount of diversity in our world and strengthened their conviction to partake in it.