KENSINGTON — For second-grader Andrew Macek, learning a Philippine stick dance with fast rhythmic beats and marching steps made the region of the world come alive.

“It felt like you were walking in the Philippines,” Macek said after his class performed the dance.

The stick dance was one of a number of Philippine dances and cultural traditions on display at the Kensington Elementary School on Jan. 26 when the school held their annual Cultural Passport event. Each year, the school chooses a new country and students become immersed in the culture, learning dances, songs, art and history. At the culmination of the unit, the school hosts an open house for students to showcase what they’ve learned. The night ends with a community bonfire behind the school with help from the fire department.

KES Principal Becky Ruel credits support from the community with making the annual tradition a success.

“Countries are selected carefully each year to honor the heritage of a current student or family at Kensington Elementary School,” Ruel said. “We are grateful to have such supportive families who have shared their stories, photos, artifacts and traditions with KES students to help broaden their worldly perspectives and expose them to life outside of Kensington.”

Those are the open house could sample traditional Filipino food such as coconut water or Biko, a dessert made from glutinous rice, water, coconut milk, preserves as well as brown and white sugar. The night also included performances of traditional and folk dances by a dance troupe from the National Federation of Filipino Americans Association.

Frank Celoza, of the dance troupe, told the students about how many different dialects were spoken in the Philippines as well as the religions practiced there.

“We are so diverse. It’s a blessing for us because we learn a lot of things from different people,” Celoza said.

Students say they enjoyed both activities they did in class and the dances they performed at the open house.

“We learned a dance in gym; it’s a dance with coconuts,” Third-grader Claire Thurlow said. “Well, we don’t have actual coconuts, we’re using cups and bowls.”

Physical Education teacher Lili Spinosa was full of enthusiasm as she introduced the dance.

“We love the coconut dance,” Spinosa told the audience. “We have had more fun with the Philippine dances. They are by far the most fun dances of any country we’ve been to so far.”

First-grader Eliza Holland said her plan was that she “kept remembering” the steps as her class performed a stick dance and recited a Filipino poem. Holland liked learning about what people ate in the Philippines.

“They have a lot of different food, they have rice, they have candy,” Holland said. “I don’t think they have tofu.”

“Yes they do,” her first-grade classmate Wyatt Cole added.

Cole liked the stick dance. “I liked when you’re banging the sticks on the ground,” Cole said.

Artwork created by students was on display during the event, including tribal masks made by second grade students for the Ati-atihan Festival, Filipino jewelry and an animal study by first graders.

“I learned about a lot of animals,” fourth-grader Aubrey Carter said. “We did make something in art, it’s kind of like a star we made it for outside.”

Fifth-grader Robert Pfeifer read books with interesting facts about the Philippines in the library and also liked the STEM class projects.

“We learned about earthquakes and natural disasters,” he said. “I think the most interesting thing is how many islands they have.”

His friend Davis Long, also a fifth-grader, gravitated toward the history of the islands.

“The U.S. one time after World War II had the Philippines as a territory and later they got their independence. I thought that was really interesting,” Long said.

Fifth-grader Rylee Marchand explained that her class watched a news report during their STEM class about the prevalence of earthquakes in the Philippines.

“There was tons of earthquakes in the Philippines,” Marchand said. “They just have a lot of earthquakes there, it’s because of the earth shifting.”

Fourth and fifth-graders performed the Tinikling dance. “It’s fancy footwork and you can do it with a partner,” Marchand explained.

Over the past 14 years of the event, the school’s students have traveled to Kenya, Russia, South Korea, Ireland, Jamaica, China, India, Italy, France, Spain, Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Finland.

“The Cultural Passport Committee has already begun discussions about where we will travel to next year,” Ruel said.

This year’s event included a new tradition, the first “pinning ceremony” in which the school was able to provide each student with a lanyard for their passports and flag pins. This was made possible, Ruel explained, thanks for donations made in memory of second grade teacher Wendy Lawler’s mother.

“Students shared with each other something they learning or something they loved about their study of the Philippines,” Ruel said. “Afterwards, the Filipino flag was pinned on their lanyard to commemorate their journey was over.”

Parent and PTO President Jen Kirby Macek loves the way the Cultural Passport is woven into all classes at the school.

“My kids loved making and trying traditional Filipino food, learning the dances, and hearing the stories,” Macek said. “We, as parents, know how lucky they are to have this exposure. We are blessed that our school staff is able and willing to put on Cultural Passport each year.”