A Pittsburgh-based Japanese drum group performs for fifth graders at Haine Middle School in Cranberry Township Friday as part of the Cultural Day events. A total of 22 cultures were represented.

CRANBERRY TWP — Fifth graders at Haine Middle School were faced with a tongue twister Friday morning when they were asked to try and pronounce “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a.”

The word, the Hawaiian name for the Reef triggerfish, may look intimidating, but isn’t hard to say when broken down into smaller parts, guest speaker Christian Roylo told the class.

Roylo was visiting the school to teach students about Hawaiian culture as part of the school’s annual Cultural Day.

Classes rotated between different presenters who taught about the cultures including geography, language, dress, history, food, education and traditional dance.

Many of the presenters were parents of students or members of the community who volunteer to share their cultural backgrounds and experiences abroad, said school counselor Jennifer Stipe.

In total, 22 cultures were represented at the 14th event.

The cultures represented were not limited to only nationalities either. In addition to Hawaii, a culture within the United States, there were presenters representing Wales in the United Kingdom, the Jewish culture and the Carpatho-Rusyn people of Eastern Europe.

“I think our students have become so generalized to an area, they don’t realize each area has its own cultures and practices,” Stipe said.

Principal Dan DiDesiderio said the fifth and sixth grade students learn about countries and cultures, but get a more personal experience by learning from the guest speakers.

“They have a very good understanding of geography and now they are learning about the impact of governments on its people. But up to this point, they’re only getting it out of a book, this is in person,” he said.

Having an understanding of different cultures will be helpful as the Seneca Valley School District and work places around the region become more diverse, he said.

In addition to rotating through different presentations, the school also hosted a Pittsburgh-based Japanese Taiko drum group who performed at the school for the first time.

Fifth grader Greta Schmidt said learning about other cultures could be useful when traveling the world.

“It’s good to know so if you go to other places in the world, you have a background,” she said.

Fifth grader Alex Mortier said he enjoyed learning about Irish culture, which included the students getting a brief lesson in traditional dancing.

“The dancing was fun. The music was really upbeat,” he said.