On Saturday, October 29, the usually silent, empty West High lunchroom was anything but. The Walk It Out Fashion Show was taking place, and the room was filled with energy as students from different cultures showed off their unique heritage. Unlike most fashion shows, Walk it Out wasn’t just meant to show off clothes, but rather to show off cultures. The show included traditional and modern fashion, music, and dancing for each of the five sections being represented: East Asia, South Asia and Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Black Culture.

The idea was inspired by The University of Iowa’s Walk it Out. Yiwen Gao ‘17 was participating in the show last year when an idea struck her. Why not bring Walk It to West? “It was a very great experience for me; just seeing all the different students with different backgrounds, standing at the same stage, proud of who they are, proud of where they come. That just really caused me to want to bring it back to West and have the students here partake in that kind of fellowship,” Gao said. She got people interested, and soon more than 60 students signed up. Sarah Ahmed ’17, the co-president of Walk it Out along with Gao, joined because she hoped the event would allow people to be proud of their culture. Both Ahmed and Gao come from different ethnicities and weren’t always comfortable with their cultural identity. “I always struggled with sharing my identity and expressing my culture,” Gao said. The goal was to give students confidence and pride about their culture and to educate the audience about the diversity being represented in West High. Just like the University of Iowa’s Walk it Out, all the proceeds were donated to a local HIV clinic.

The show concluded with a special tribute to Black Lives Matter. The students representing Black Culture marched out into the stage, each holding a photograph of an African American who was unjustly killed. They wanted to honor these victims and keep their legacies alive. “When I first signed up for Walk it Out, I wasn’t expecting we would do something so big. It was bigger than ourselves,” said Leen Hamza ‘19. Other students agreed. “I think it’s really important to honor the lives lost to police brutality… that’s why it was my favorite part of the show,” said Khlood Saeed ’20, a performer for the Africa section. Most performers were happy with the outcome. “I got to learn so much about cultures I never even knew existed… I would definitely participate again next year,” Saeed said.