Central Jersey College Prep Celebrates Diversity With International Night

Performances celebrating a half-dozen countries highlighted the annual International Night program April 27 at Central Jersey College Prep Charter School on Mettlers Road.

Students, mostly dressed in the garb native to the country they were representing, performed dances and skits before more than 200 cheering peers and parents.

Among the countries represented were China, South Korea, Peru and India.

“It’s a celebration of diversity at the school,” said Namik Sercan, CJCP’s chief education officer.

“It’s my goal to bring more diversity to the school,” he said. “I think we’re making good progress on that.”

Sercan pointed to the school’s recently held weighted lottery, which  offered low- and moderate-income students a greater opportunity to be selected for available spots in the school in the 2018-19 school year.

“Based on the lottery result, I looked at the racial distribution,” he said. “We are more diverse than ever in the next school year.”

“The purpose of schooling is to educate the whole child,” he said. “Educating the whole child is not limited to math or science, it’s also teaching living together by respecting each other, acknowledging and accepting the differences. I think these kinds of events are helping to evoke that kind of idea in students.”

“This kind of event reminds us that we can live in unity and peace by still maintaining out own identity,” Sercan said.

Here are some scenes from the evening.

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