Games, food and prizes: these were just a few of the highlights on Friday, Feb. 14, when students gathered in the atrium and MLK room for the annual Lunar New Year Celebration led by the Asian Pacific American Club (APAC).

As students entered the space, they were given a piece of paper that listed all the activities offered. Once they had completed one, they received a completion stamp for the given activity. Student organizers gave prizes, including food and toys, to the students who had received five stamps in a row on their paper. The activities included the chopsticks game, pinning the eye on the dragon, guessing the Asian country and identifying traditional Asian book titles, among others.

Sophomore and APAC member Jieling Pua performed both last and this year during the celebration. This year she still wanted to contribute even more to the event in some way, so she decided to run one of the booths.

Pua emphasized that the celebration remains a meaningful way to honor diverse cultures and promote awareness, helping to prevent misconceptions.

“I think that spreading culture is very important, especially because I think a lot of times in communities that are thought of as diverse, there’s often a little bit of deep-rooted racism,” Pua said.

Wan Wang, Chinese teacher and APAC staff leader, emphasized the importance of spreading awareness about cultural aspects of Asian cultures that students would not typically learn about in school.

“All the different games [offered]—the [paper] cuttings…the scores—a lot of them are just not really included in the curriculum. We have to honor this big cultural aspect,” Wang said.

The celebration ended just before F-block, as it transitioned to an array of performances in the spirit of Lunar New Year. According to Wang, the celebration of these cultural holidays are crucial because they allow groups like the Chinese community to feel more connected and a part of the school and allow people who aren’t familiar with certain cultures to immerse themselves in them.

“Some people feel like, ‘Oh, I get to know a new culture,’” Wang said, “I think everyone here tries to embrace and tries to learn from each other.”