Vincent Hsiao

Stephanie Bellville and Deepa Jaswal stand on the stage announcing the performance of the Bollywood Dance Club. They worked with the Asian Culture and Advocacy Group to arrange this event. “The Bollywood Dance Club did their first school performance this year which was so exciting,” Jaswal said.

Sounds of excitement filled the multipurpose room on Nov. 4, 2024 where many students from different backgrounds gathered to celebrate the festival of light, Diwali. Colorful decorations hang on the staircase and tasty Indian snacks lay on the table ready to welcome the students. Behind the scenes of this event was social studies teacher Stephanie Bellville and English Speaker of Other Languages teacher Deepa Jaswal who helped organize the festivities that were enjoyed by many.

“We had discussed the desire to do a Diwali event in August, but the real planning began in October,” Bellville said.

Both Bellville and Jaswal had been planning these Diwali events for the same amount of time and each time their interest and effort increases.  

“This is my 3rd year at Ladue and my 2nd year planning events here,” Jaswal said.

Although 2 years is not a long time, the purpose behind this involvement might be the most important thought as their starting point.

“My personal connection is to facilitate Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders representation at Ladue,” Bellville said. “In San Francisco, the majority of my students were AAPI. Coming to Ladue, I wanted to be of service in helping the AAPI community feel represented at our school. I am a strong believer in celebrating our diversity.”

While Bellville wanted to be the reason for more representation, Jaswal being a Sikh wanted to be more connected to her culture through these celebrations.

“I am a Sikh (follower of the Sikh religion) and many people believe that only Hindus celebrate Diwali,” Jaswal said. “Overall the message for Diwali is the triumph of good over evil. Not only do Hindus and Sikhs celebrate Diwali, but many Jains and Buddhists do too.”

To enhance their involvement in this event, Bellville and Jaswal are part of ACAG (Asian Culture and Advocacy Group) who also organized the event, while Jaswal was also part of the Bollywood Dance Club.

“Our ACAG leaders, Sancho and Sara did a great job arranging our event,” Jaswal said. “Sancho came up with the flyer and decorated the multi-purpose room. Sara created a Google slide presentation about Diwali that was shared at our meeting. She also brought samosas for the event.”

Not only did they organize it, but they also observed the various activities, picking their favorite which surprisingly coincided between Bellville and Jaswal as one of Bellville’s favorite was also the mehendi or henna.

“I really enjoyed the mehndi,” Jaswal said. “It was nice to see students take initiative and look up designs to put mehndi on each other’s hands.”