Masco’s Brazilian and Portuguese Culture Club which just started last year is offering a great opportunity to explore Brazilian culture and connect over many fascinating topics.
This club is open to everyone, no matter the grade or familiarity with the culture. They meet weekly and do a variety of activities.
Club advisor Ryan Quinn said, “Oh 100% you don’t have to be of Brazilian ancestry to be a part of this. I would say more than half the people in this club have no connection to Brazil, and no idea about Portuguese.”
The club started last year created by then senior Gabriel Borges, originally moving here from Brazil and feeling out of place at Masco. Borges didn’t want the beginning of his high school experience to happen to any Brazilian kid.
“I wanted to start this club so there can already be a Brazilian community to go to and a way to start to make friends here at Masco,” said Quinn.
When Borges asked Quinn to be the advisor, Quinn immediately agreed.
“Gabriel said, ‘Mr Quinn can we make a club?’ and I was like how can I say no to that? So Gabriel got a bunch of his buddies and we started to have meetings last year,” said Quinn.
This club is usually based just on the culture of Brazil and its speakers ,but they also do some little things so the club meetings can be more immersive with the actual Portuguese language.
“We spent a couple of our meetings this year doing a little bit of some basic language and communication like Oi, Ciao, Tudo Bem, Obrigado,” said Quinn. “So these things being very basic are just the sort of words you would use to introduce them to the language.”
In the Brazilian and Portuguese Culture Club, many interesting topics focus on the culture of Brazil.
“We are most focused on Brazilian culture, Brazilian music, Brazilian activities, sports, movies, dance, martial arts these sorts of things. The things popular to Brazilians,” said Quinn.
Club members are always eager to learn about Brazilian culture, and Club President sophomore Sofia Pomerantz helps share and teach the club about the culture.
“I just love introducing everyone to Brazilian culture,” she said. “We don’t get much representation here, so just letting people know that this culture is out there is great.”
The club does many activities and events to better the cultural learning experience and get members involved.
“We do a lot of activities like the multicultural potluck last year, other activities like baking and bringing in Brazilian food and teaching the language a little bit,” said Pomerantz.
Brazilian and Portuguese Culture Club is looking for any people interested in joining to learn the rich Brazilian culture and have a great time while doing it.
“Anybody can come, it’s a great time to learn about something new while doing fun little things as a group,” said Pomerantz.