For this one, students representing a dozen different nations were invited to show off clothing from their native land and tell a little about their country.

Mendiola said she knew students from several different countries, and also "walked up to people and asked what their nationality is," to recruit students for the show.

In all, American Indian students and those from Brazil, China, Estonia, India, Korea, Laos, Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Slovakia and Vietnam showed off clothing from their homeland, and placed a pin in a large world map showing where that country is.

"South High has lots of diversity," she said, "and everyone brings different ideas to the table."

To kick off the show, Mendiola and co-MC senior Bonita Binford sang a song they'd written together just a few weeks ago.

The song, with parts in both Spanish and English, was called "Come and Dance With Me" -- or "Ven y Baila."

"Bonita and I had been wanting to write a song," Mendiola said. "But we never had time."

Then they found themselves with a couple of hours and little to do recently when riding down to the state music competition in Wichita, so they put their heads together on the lyrics.

Full of different cultures

Song Gao, a junior whose family moved here from China before the start of her sophomore year, said she's one of three students from China at South, but that she doesn't spend much time with the other two.

"They're both sophomores, so we don't have the same classes together," she said. "If see them, and we talk, but I kind of hang out with Americans."

She said she appreciated the opportunity Thursday to let other students learn a little about her country.

"America is a country full of different cultures, so it's good to show what those different cultures are, and different ways of thinking," she said, adding she feels accepted at South. "It's really hard to move from one country to another, but it's fun now to be here."

"It's pretty cool," was junior Thuy Vanle's appraisal of the fashion show. "There's not a lot of Vietnamese people in Salina, so it's nice to represent my country." She said she only "barely" remembers Vietnam, but is planning a trip back there this summer.

She, too, said she doesn't feel like there's any distance between her and other students because she came from a different culture.

"I don't feel like I'm excluded or anything," she said.

A regular American?

Marek Zamecnik, and Jan Labas, both seniors and foreign exchange students from Slovakia, were glad for the opportunity to represent their country -- and to get to know America.

"I really like it here, it's awesome," Zamecnik said. He'd brought the flag he displayed during the fashion show with him. "I want to represent Slovakia, and show people where Slovakia is -- here, nobody knows."

Zamecnik said one difference between South High and where he'd gone to school in Slovakia was the ethnic diversity; there, he said, everyone is Slovakian.

"It must be hard to have this without all the quarrels," Labas said of the mixing of different cultures. "America has gone the most far in this way of having cultures come together."

Labas answered one question -- what's it like learning about both regular Americans and students from other cultures -- with a question, and the answer: "What is a regular American? Everyone."

n Reporter Michael Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.