On February 16, the Skyline College International Student Program (ISP) hosted a joint event for the Lunar New Year with the College of San Mateo (CSM), Cañada College, & Silicon Valley Intensive English Program (SVIEP).
Students from the United States and around the world joined in the celebration along with Diane Arguijo, Director of International Education, as well as ISP staff and college faculty.
The event was a collaboration of presentations and videos from international students who enlightened the audience with a wealth of information about the Lunar New Year starting with its history, taboos, lucky words and sayings, food, traditions, how it is celebrated (in Mongolia and Cambodia), and of course, the Chinese zodiac. Yaolan Luo, President of the Chinese Student Scholar Association of Skyline College, shared fun facts about this.
Next up was the Lunar New Year Kahoot! hosted by Vivian Marcos of Skyline College. The audience was invited to show off how much knowledge of the Lunar New Year they had gained from the presentations and videos. It was followed by a lively performance on piano and vocals by Jackson Chang from SVIEP. The event concluded with a brief activity led by Silvana Grimes, a staff member from CSM, on how to make a paper lantern.
We are so grateful and appreciative to have all the students from Skyline College, CSM, Cañada College, and SVIEP share their traditions, culture, knowledge, videos, and music for the Lunar New Year.
ISP will continue to conduct events and workshops to improve the services offered to its students and the entire Skyline College community. If you are interested in learning more about future ISP programs and events, contact ISP office at skyinternational@smccd.edu.
Article by Adrienne Villegas