U.S. Navy Photo by J. Steven Moore
Frances R. Cook, a software development contractor at the Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC), participates in the lion dance as demonstrated by the Wong People, a Chinese-American martial arts group from Washington, DC. In the foreground, JWAC Commander, Navy Capt. Gary Shoman and Executive Director Robert A. Tolhurst, Jr., look on.
For the third year, the Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC) celebrated cultural and ethnic diversity in a program featuring music, food, and displays on May 17, 2012. This year's theme was "Bridging our Cultures."
"Celebrating diversity and cultural awareness is a significant part of the workforce to help bring about change," said Phyllis Jackson, JWAC's deputy Equal Employment Opportunity officer. "I believe we maintain a work environment at JWAC that demonstrates we're on the same team when it comes to respecting diversity and cultural backgrounds."
Besides the Wong People, other featured performers were the "JWAC Singers" comprised of Annette H. Bell, Babette H. Harris, and Coston A. Cheatham, who sang a medley of songs; a Washington, D,C,-based Puerto Rican dance company, Raices de Borinquen; Montford Point Marine veterans, the first African-Americans inducted into the Marine Corps; Wounded Warriors Sean Locker and Matthew Page, from the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Z Department who shared their experiences returning from the war in Iraq; and two JWAC employees, Krissie E. Gilroy and Catherine P. Willard. who gave perspectives about personality traits and growing up deaf, respectively.
