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Lunar New Year Leaves a Legacy Madi Kim, XI
From our multicultural Spring Break Dance Camp in March, Holi Festival in April, and the Soul Food Fest held every May, second semester at CSG showcases tons of celebrations for the various cultures represented in our community. The longest running celebration is the Lunar New Year Assembly. This year’s celebration was the week of February 5, and consisted of a student-led dragon dance, vibrant traditional clothing, and a banquet. I sat down with Ms. Wu, one of the Mandarin teachers at CSG, to discover more about the history of the program. Ms. Wu remembered, “Nine years ago, we used to do a video or sing a song during announcements. Then, seven years ago, we did the actual programming.” When Ms. Wu was on maternity leave, she had the op-
portunity to work on a school-wide Lunar New Year celebration. Ms. Wu stated, “In the beginning, I was teaching Chinese classes and the classes were really small at the time. We had a grant to support Chinese programs. For the grant, we needed to do something, so I invited Master Gong to come in and do martial arts.” The very first Lunar New Year assembly featured a zither, a type of stringed instrument, performed by a CSG student whose parents were from China. The student was generally interested in music, so Ms. Wu invited a zither teacher to come in and instruct her. Last year, Ms. Wu attended POCC, the People of Color Conference, where she felt like she was given a push to showcase diversity in CSG. She recalls, “I went to the Asian affinity groups that made me think about how we feature
diversity from Asian American communities at CSG. I realized there are bigger-scale things we can do.” Students started to come together and brainstorm as Ms. Wu proposed different ideas. Then, they did a pre-selection for the performance each class wanted to showcase. Ms. Wu emphasized, “We feature different kids who have different talents. When we start rehearsal, some groups watch YouTube videos, and if students have great dancing skills, they step up to be leaders.” Ms. Wu notes it is “really surprising” to see students “in another way” outside their typical work in the Mandarin classroom. For this year’s assembly, Form VI performed a TikTok dance called Kemusan, Form VII a song and dance called Lone Warriors, Form VIII a line dance battle, Mandarin I a fashion show, Mandarin II a long fan dance called Up Towards
SCOOP ON CSG SCHOOL SPIRIT! Rose McLarty, XI CSG has so much to celebrate, so much to be proud of, and we as a student body have been reminded of that fact so much this year as it is the 125th anniversary…so why does it feel like our school spirit as a whole needs an upgrade? School spirit is not something that an institution can create overnight. The best schools are ones with a strong sense of school spirit that is rooted in tradition, community, and commitment. There is no doubt that we have traditions: from Holiday Dinner to Big / Little, our traditions date back to as early as our founding. CSG also has an incredible community that is filled with supportive teachers, tight-knit classes, and a vast alumni network. Our community is one of the best aspects of CSG, so I guess the only piece missing is our commitment. I began my investigation into school spirit with the people I know best: the juniors. In our second semester of form XI, applying to college is at the forefront of our minds. As we begin to build our college lists in college counseling, we have to consider what we value in an institution, one factor being school spirit. I
asked a group of juniors in the commons if school spirit was something they were looking for going into this process and without hesitation, everyone said yes. They all felt that school spirit is the pathway to creating a strong and meaningful community. They wanted to go to a university where students celebrate their school and feel proud to be a student. I then followed up this question by asking if they believed CSG has a strong sense of school spirit and they all said no. So here is where the problem presents itself: if we crave school spirit and are searching outwardly for it in the future, why not look inward, foster, cultivate, and commit to it where we are? It is hard to find one answer to solve this school spirit conundrum. As it is a question of figuring out what are we doing well and in what areas can we grow. I asked Student Council president Elizabeth Burgess what she believed school spirit looks like and she said, “School spirit looks like showing up for your friends at theater and sporting events. It also means saying hi to people in the hallway.” I think we can all embrace Elizabeth's philosophy a little more and lean into the
school spirit that we can create here. We should show up for our athletes, actors, and musicians consistently at their games and performances. We should come to Red Gold events fired up and ready to get competitive with our opposing team. We can’t expect to magically have a thriving attitude regarding school spirit if we are not willing to do our part to cultivate this energy. Brooklyn Harris- Zarebski, IX, believes that the freshmen bring this spirit and said that “the majority of [their] grade is joyous to be here.” Although Brooklyn says the school spirit is better amongst the freshmen, she notes that CSG is a “very academic environment” which may lead students to spend more time on school than social activities. Overall, there is no real answer to improving our school spirit, as the concept of “spirit” can change from person to person. I suggest we lean into the opportunities our school provides us with and commit to them wholeheartedly, even if that means embracing the cringe for a little. So maybe take some time to look inward, think about what you can do to improve school spirit, and encourage others to do the same.
the Moon, and Mandarin IV and V ended the show with a school favorite, the Dragon Dance. Following all the hard work on the assembly, Ms. Wu and her students also hosted a schoolwide Lunar New Year celebration. Along with help from the Center for Equity and Belonging and the World Language Department, it featured authentic Asian food and some of the dances. Over 200 attendees came: families and students from all divisions. As we look forward to the future of the Lunar New Year assembly, Ms. Wu highlighted her goals: “The reason I continue wanting to do this is because my students don't always remember the language, they don't always remember the lessons, but they always remember the Lunar New Year celebration.”
Mandarin claases perform a variety of dances.
Photos courtesy of CSG Instagram.
Featured in this Issue: -Spring Break Trips: Expectations vs Reality - Recruitment Process 101 -Doodle for Google -Battle of the Books -Summer Drink Review