Holiday Celebrations with the Class of '16!
By TOM LIU and ERIN HOLLOWAY
Editor: MICHELLE DANNER
On Saturday, Dec 3, New Mind Education hosted the Spring 2016 cohort’s UPP completion ceremony and holiday party at ALOFT Raleigh’s conference lounge. Their year with UPP has gone by so quickly! For all UPP students, this event was a great time to reflect on their accomplishments this semester and think about their goals for 2017, as well as experience some traditional American holiday foods and activities!
The event was divided into three parts, the first being a ceremony for completing students John Fengshun Wang, Naomi Naining Xu, George Qirui Dai, Laureina Xiaoyu Liu, Roy Mingcu Fan, Tony Tong Wang, and Silver Linhan Wen. UPP Director Enoch Chow gave the opening statement, encouraging students to think about the future. Each completing student received a completion certificate as well as a gift from their advisor: a framed word map in the shape of North Carolina!
“These students taught me just as much as I taught them,” advisor Dalhya Lusk said.
Students from the Spring 2016 cohort were not the only ones who received recognition during the ceremony. Eishon Yixuan Pan, Xinyang Li, Aurora Yinan Ding, Starry Jindi Gao, Roy Jiacheng Wu, Sean Lingfan Cui and Joanna Jiawei Zhao of the Fall 2016 cohort were also awarded perfect attendance certificates. Ding and Gao also received commemorative certificates of their efforts on the UPP Student Council.
“We really appreciated the extra time and effort they spent in intern meetings this semester,” Student Life Coordinator Erin Holloway said.
The second part of the event was the holiday festivities. UPP staff prepared samples of snacks from four prominent holidays: Christmas (pecan sandies, peppermint bark, zebra popcorn), Hanukkah (latkes, Jewish doughnuts), Kwanzaa (curried sweet potato) and Eid (cheese baklava and meat pies). The treats from Eid and Hanukkah were the most popular! In addition to these foods, students learned key facts and important cultural items related to each holiday, including the dreidel for Hanukkah, the kinara for Kwanzaa and the nativity scene for Christmas. Lastly, each table of students had to work together to build gingerbread houses!
Peter Dejun Bi, who is planning to study civil engineering, took the task very seriously and produced an impressive structure in the end!
The activities concluded with a White Elephant gift exchange, a common Christmas event that Americans friends enjoy together! In this activity, students needed to prepare a gift (worth $5-10) and piled the gifts in the center of the room. Students pulled a number from a basket to decide how they would take turns choosing a gift either from the pile (and unwrap it) or stealing a gift already unwrapped. Each gift could only be stolen twice, and a student that has a gift stolen can choose another gift from the pile or steal another gift, but they cannot steal the same present back. Gifts ranged from cowboy board games to lotions, notebooks to mugs! At first, students were reluctant to steal, but once some of the more impressive gifts were revealed, some had to endure their first choices being taken! Bi unfortunately had gifts stolen from him twice, but he ended up with some delicious chocolates instead. Other students, like Jacob Yukuan Li, were thankful their gifts (a plush lotion and shampoo set) were taken by someone who would appreciate them more. Although some of students did not participate in this party, all the students who did had a great time!
“I hope we have more parties like this in the future,” Scofield Mengze Ji said. “And I want to know more about American festival culture!”
Li agreed. “[White Elephant] was a very fun game, and I was glad that a person will wear my gift,” Li said. He also posted a picture of the student wearing his gift (a scarf).
Overall, the event was a great way for students to conclude the Fall 2016 semester and look forward to the New Year! We hope 2017 will bring more exciting UPP events and more opportunities for students to experience American culture!