![Freshman Milan Earl and sophomore Lucy Kaplan sit with their grandparents at Archer’s annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day Friday, March 15. The event took place over three 75-minute sessions. “[I hope my grandparents] gain an understanding about what I do, Kaplan said, because I know they ask a lot of questions and can sort of see what I do in school and what the experience is like to be here.](https://archeroracle.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/grandparents-day-option-2-1200x800.jpg)
Archer community celebrates Chinese New Year
Photo credit: Emma London
The Chinese 2 class performs the traditional dragon dance. The students made the dragon in Archer’s IDEA Lab.
A big red dragon danced throughout the courtyard, tables displaying calligraphy lined the grass, and popular Chinese music played.
These were all parts of Archer’s Chinese New Year celebration on Friday, Feb 23, to celebrate the year of the earth dog. Students in each Chinese language class helped to organize the festivities.
“Each grade had a different part to prepare,” Jenna Gestetner ’21 said.
Chinese 1A, 1B and 2 classes worked with Cory Bluemling and Mike Carter in the IDEA Lab to build and design a dragon for the traditional dragon dance they they performed.
Click the video below to watch part of the dance.
To perform the dance, dancers wove through the courtyard holding the dragon up with poles. Other students were allowed to join in and performed the dance as well. Chinese 1A students also performed a hip-hop dance to a Chinese songs.
The celebration also had booths displaying Chinese themed activities. One offered shuttlecock, a game where multiple people try to keep the shuttlecock from hitting the ground by kicking it, while another offered paper lantern making.
Students could also decorate red envelopes and practice calligraphy. Additionally, there was free boba milk tea for the community to enjoy made by the Chinese 3 class.
“[The celebration] was a way of recognizing and appreciating Chinese culture at school,” Saskia Wong-Smith ‘18, a member of the Chinese 4 class, said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Emma London joined the Oracle as a correspondent in 2017 and as a staff writer in 2018. She is on Archer's equestrian team and plays the viola in upper...
![Freshman Milan Earl and sophomore Lucy Kaplan sit with their grandparents at Archer’s annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day Friday, March 15. The event took place over three 75-minute sessions. “[I hope my grandparents] gain an understanding about what I do, Kaplan said, because I know they ask a lot of questions and can sort of see what I do in school and what the experience is like to be here.](https://archeroracle.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/grandparents-day-option-2-600x400.jpg)
Lulu Manzur • Mar 16, 2018 at 11:42 am
This articles shows that archer celebrates so many different cultures so everybody is included. This article informed me about the making of the dragon as well.
Lacey Thompson • Mar 16, 2018 at 11:30 am
This gave me a understanding of what really happened during the Chinese New Year celebration. I also never knew that the middle schoolers were the ones who made that dragon so this article really helped.
Anna Friedman • Mar 16, 2018 at 11:27 am
I love how this article tells you information on what the Archer School for Girls celebrates for differnt cultures. It shows we are a diverse community.
Cate Childers • Mar 16, 2018 at 11:27 am
I wish that it was a little more specific on who was a part on each of the classes but over all the article was well covered.