The Magnet Ambassadors put together a booth to celebrate Japanese culture by teaching students about the Japanese festival Setsubun on Main Street on Feb. 27.

Setsubun is a springtime Japanese festival that celebrates new beginnings and eliminates bad luck. Japanese teacher, Satoko Shou inspired senior and president Autry Oran to make the Setsubun booth.

“[Shou] actually had a lesson over the festival in class, and so that gave me a lot of ideas for our stand,” Oran said.

Students poured soybean into different boxes labeled with things like good grades, wealth, health, family and friends. Pouring soybeans into a box represented making a wish for good luck in that area. Sophomore Kamea Ta checked out the booth because she was intrigued by the crowd.

“I found it interesting and I enjoyed it a lot,” Ta said. “I put a little bit of everything into each one because why not. Also, I found it really funny how no one invested their good luck into romance. I think that people are more focused on having good academic grades and family and friends.”

Hosting the Japanese booth is part of Oran’s responsibilities as the Magnet Ambassador for Japanese.

“We decided to start representing and spreading more awareness about the magnet program by hosting monthly stands or announcements to raise awareness and to get more students interested in languages and cultures,” Oran said.

Japanese is one of Bellaire’s nine language programs. The others include Italian, Latin, Spanish, Hindi, French, Chinese, Arabic and German. For Ta, the cultural booths are an important part of the language magnet program.

“Because Bellaire is a language magnet program, I feel like it is very important to promote cultural diversity,” Ta said. “I feel like it’s good to make sure that everyone has a basic understanding of the cultures around the world, and it’s just interesting to learn.”

Keep up with the Magnet Ambassadors on Instagram: @bhsmagnetambassadors.