“I’m Ethiopian.”

“I’m Iranian.”

“I’m Jewish.”

“I’m Israeli.”

“I’m Persian.”

In LT, there are a vast number of religions, ethnicities, and cultures, something which the school takes great pride upon. However, the amount of cultures in LT has expanded, and many cultures slip through the cracks unrepresented and even unacknowledged. 

“When you don’t see a lot of people speaking your language and they don’t really know what Iranian is so they mix it up with Arab or with Egyptian or something,” Freshman Arielle Torbatian said, “I don’t really feel represented.” 

Torbatian isn’t the only one, with many other students agreeing that identifying as a lesser-known ethnicity or religion can be isolating.

“To be honest, I don’t know if there are a lot of people here that share my culture,” said Sophomore Romi Jancik.

While LT doesn’t have a club or group for every culture, there are still clubs that proudly represent different ethnicities. For example, ASIA, Asian Student Involvement Association, is led by Britney Do and strives to learn more about asian cultures, along with other activities.

“ASIA is open to all who share a common interest in learning more about Asian culture,” said Do. “In our club, we normally learn about different countries in Asia, their culture, what makes them special or similar to different Asian cultures, holidays, and what is currently happening in Asia.”

If students can’t find a club or group to support them at LT, there are also multiple groups available in the surrounding areas of Plano, Frisco, and even Dallas.

“I have this Israeli organization,” said Jancik. “It kind of resembles Girl Scouts, but for the Israeli community in the United States and Israel. It’s like an organization where I can stay connected to my country, we speak my language, it’s a place where I can be with my community every weekend, and we have camps, and more.”

Along with different cultures, many students speak a different language at home with their families and friends.

“I speak partially Amharic,” said Junior Saba Mulugeta. “I don’t really hear people speaking Ethiopian languages here because we’re a minority, so most Ethiopians [at LT] probably only speak their language at their house like I do.”

However, each culture brings a variety of religions a student can also identify as. Depending on the religion and the culture, many holidays, traditions, customs and celebrations can largely differ from each other.

“My religion is Judaism. It feels like there’s a new holiday every month, Passover, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashana, Hanukkah, Sukkot, Purim…” said Torbatian. “In Judaism, there are multiple different communities, if you are an Ashkenazi Jew you’re from the Europe side, but my family is from the Middle East side so we’re Sephardic. I’m pretty sure the Ashkenazi eat a fish head, but in the Middle East we eat a cow’s tongue, so it’s like the same values, the same book, the same prophets, there’s just different foods or traditions.”

While LT doesn’t offer specific breaks for holidays in multiple other religions, they make up for it by making sure each student has options, if necessary, to celebrate their culture.

“I’m kind of in the middle, not super super religious or super super not religious, but I take Jewish holidays off, so I just have to tell [the school] that ‘Hey, this is a Jewish holiday’ and I get excused,” said Torbatian.

As LT’s cultures and religions continue to expand, so do the clubs, teaching material and groups of friends. LT pushes forward, welcoming new changes as the school grows.

“I don’t really see clubs that represent my culture because there are not really that many Ethiopians here, so it’s like why have a club to be honest, but I do hope to have some because I do see more Ethiopians in the rising Freshman class, so I think we’re probably going to have more Ethiopians and more Ethiopian clubs in a couple of years, just not right now,” said Mulugeta.