Kevin Kelly/Key photo Lindsay Hawkins offers Mary Pat Whittaker a fork full of a Czechoslovakian dessert at the first "Great American Melting Pot Potluck" luncheon at Notre Dame de Sion High School.

On Feb. 8, Notre Dame de Sion High School U.S. history students of Kristoffer Barikmo and Julie Reiter brought potluck dishes from their own family heritage to share - and to learn about America and themselves.

"I knew I was Czechoslovakian," said Megan Hohensinner, "but I got reminded of it last night when I looked for recipes."

"You're Czechoslovakian?" said Holly Michalka, eating at the same table. "I am Czechoslovakian, too."

The buffet table set up outside the school's new gymnasium was filled with a world banquet.

Students brought Irish soda bread, Polish sausage and kraut, Italian spaghetti and linguini, German potato salad, Mexican-American nachos, and even a good ol' American staple - tuna casserole.

There was no shortage of homemade desserts. Molly Hayde brought Irish cream.

"You whip up heavy cream then add ginger snaps to give it flavor," she said.

India Wells brought an African-American favorite, a melt-in-your-mouth sweet potato pie. "I didn't make it," she confessed. "A friend of my family's did. She's really good at it."

The luncheon also taught that you can't tell a book - or a person - by its cover. Hilary Funk could easily hide out in Ireland with her red hair and fluorescent complexion. So what did she bring from her family heritage?

"Venison gumbo," she said. "It's basically a gumbo with deer meat in it. I put sausage in it, but I didn't put in any shrimp."

That's not Irish.

"My grandmother is Cajun," she said. "Most of my family is from the South, but my great-grandma Keller is from Ireland."

If the gumbo wasn't spicy enough, Asha White brought the traditional Southern New Year's Day good luck dish - black-eyed peas with ham hocks, with an added kick.

"You put them in a pot with hot sauce, then you boil them an hour or two," she said.

The special luncheon was dreamed up by the students themselves during a class discussion on immigration, said Barikmo, who shared lefsa - a thin Norwegian potato pancake that is a cross between a crepe and a flour tortilla.

The students were talking about the gifts each immigrant group brought to the United States when one of them said, "Let's celebrate with food. Let's have a party," Barkimo recalled.

Barkimo and Reiter quickly bought into the idea, viewing the multi-cultural luncheon as a way for students to learn not only about each other, but also about themselves.

"When we do this kind of event, the students can reconnect to their own family stories," Barkimo said. "We had students talk to their grandparents about family recipes, and that would spark a conversation about where the family came from."

The lessons won't end with the luncheon, Reiter said.

"We're going to put all their recipes together and create a cookbook," she said. "We hope to sell them and raise money for (history class) field trips."

Though the cookbook is not yet ready for publication, those interested in reserving one can call the school at (816) 942-3282, Reiter said.

END