Upper School students celebrated the Lunar New Year this week with an assembly hosted by the Asian American Pacific Islander Affinity Group.

Led by Mrs. Kinari Pierce, the group began their presentation by teaching the audience how to say “Happy New Year” in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and thanks to guest appearances from business office members Trang Le and Lan Bui, Vietnamese.

The presentation continued with personal stories about family traditions, with Alex Suh ’26 speaking about Korean heritage and Tony Wang ’24 sharing his experience immigrating to America from China and how the Lunar New Year serves as an anchor for his cultural identity. 

“The St. Albans community is like no other, and one of its key principles is brotherhood. When I first entered St. Albans, I did not really know many people, but the AAPI Affinity Group helped me massively in getting to know my fellow classmates, and now they are some of my best friends,” Wang told the crowd.

To cap off the day, the group distributed paper slips to the audience and taught the group how to fold paper cranes, a symbol of healing, and longevity in Japanese culture. As students departed the auditorium, they were handed a traditional red envelope filled with candy (rather than the traditional money).

Enjoy Tony’s speech complete below:

Lunar New Year has always been a special time for me in my life. Some of my best childhood memories are celebrating the holiday with my extended family in Chifeng, China. My grandparents would make the best dumplings in the world, we would watch the annual CCTV Chinese New Year Gala on TV, as well as the thunderous, but beautiful, fireworks.

Now, it’s still a special time of the year, but just in a different way. Ever since I moved to the US nearly ten years ago, Lunar New Year has become one of the only times during the year where I could see my dad in person, as he works in China. The extended family celebrations have virtually disappeared; it has now been reduced to a simple WeChat call where I say “xin nian kuai le” to my grandparents to wish them well for the upcoming year. There is still good food and celebrations with family friends, but it just doesn’t feel like the old days.

But I think this is where St. Albans makes up for that. The St. Albans community is like no other, and one of its key principles is brotherhood. When I first entered St. Albans, I did not really know many people, but the AAPI Affinity Group helped me massively in getting to know my fellow classmates, and now they are some of my best friends. 

Last year, for the Lunar New Year assembly, we prepared and performed a dragon dance in the National Cathedral. Though performing the dragon dance was very different from celebrating with my extended family in China, the spirit of Lunar New Year was still the same. Ultimately, no matter what the location and circumstances are, the point of Lunar New Year is to celebrate with the ones closest to you.

Thanks for listening. Xin nian kuai le.