PEA Hosts Lunar New Year Dinner

To celebrate Lunar New Year, both Elm and Wetherall Dining Hall served traditional Asian cuisine last Tuesday after parents anonymously donated the $10,000 budget proposed by Dining Services via the Parents’ Giving Department.

During the dinner, Dining Services staff distributed pamphlets describing various countries’ celebrations of the holiday. While students acknowledged the Academy’s efforts to be inclusive of multiple Asian traditions, many emphasized that there is still progress to be made.

The previous year, Chinese students celebrated Lunar New Year with a privately-funded trip to New Pine Garden, a local Chinese restaurant. They were joined by then-Academy Principal Lisa MacFarlane.

For other Asian-identifying Exonians observing the holiday on campus, however, the occasion passed quietly with no official recognition from PEA.

Exeter alumna Mary Le ’18 recalled the exclusive nature of last year’s dining hall decorations, which primarily focused on Chinese New Year. “There wasn’t really an organized Lunar New Year event for [all] students,” she expressed.

English Instructor and Asian Student Program Coordinator Wei-Ling Woo stated that the purpose of this year’s celebratory dinner was “to have the whole school celebrate together in a manner that felt more equitable to all.”

Senior and Asian Advisory Board member Jared Zhang described the dinner as a success in its promotion of inclusivity, noting how his peers were excited to share their countries’ traditions. “Almost everyone I talked to, regardless of their cultural background, was excited about the food and the opportunity to try something new,” Zhang said.

Lan Lu, parent of senior Sarah Lu, first proposed funding a Lunar New Year celebratory dinner in a WeChat group with 289 domestic and international Chinese parents before Thanksgiving. “When I introduced this idea to the group, I got lots of support from the parents,” she said.

Director of Student Activities Joanne Lembo added that this was an opportunity for students to learn about various traditions associated with the Lunar New Year. “We thought it would be a fun way to ring in the new year and also educate folks about the many cultures we have represented on campus,” she said.

While many responded positively to the dinner, others felt that there was still room for improvement. According to lower Rachael Kim, despite the school’s efforts to be equitable, there was still lacking awareness that the Lunar New Year is not a holiday exclusive to China. “Everyone still called it ‘Chinese New Year’ and they put up decorations unique to the Chinese way of celebrating, like the red posters and red envelopes,” Kim said. “I think they should make more of an effort to try and popularize the fact that this is a big holiday for so many countries in Asia.”

Students unfamiliar with the holiday did find the celebratory dinner to be educational. “I wasn’t aware that other countries outside of China celebrated it. I noticed all the posters they put up on Korea and Japan and the different foods that were served. That was where I learned that this isn’t something that is just Chinese,” lower Jack Puchalski said. “I think that was a good job on the school’s part.”

Nevertheless, lower Meredith Thomas hopes the Academy will offer more insight into the New Year traditions of different countries going forward. “It would be really cool to learn the modern aspects of it and how people are celebrating around the world. [Exeter] sort of just stuck with the traditional way that schools would celebrate it, by showing us the animal years, so I would really like to know what this holiday means,” she said.

Upper Morgan LeBrun, who has been celebrating the Lunar New Year since middle school, believes the occasion deserves more recognition than one dinner. “I was very appreciative of the opportunity to celebrate the holiday and have everybody on campus recognize it, but I think that the downfall of having the dinner was that people only recognized the holiday for the food rather than what Lunar New Year really means and what it means to individual people,” she said.

In the future, Lu hopes the Academy will incorporate more student input in the planning process to promote greater inclusivity. “I think it would be nice to have more student involvement in the planning and organizing of this event,” she said. “We can definitely improve on the inclusivity of all cultures.”

Woo agreed, but expressed her appreciation for the Academy’s notable progress this year in comparison to past years. “I would love it if we could further diversify the menu and decorations, but I think this year’s dinner was a step in the right direction,” she said. “Dining Services put a lot of time and effort into the menu and decorations, for which I’m very grateful.”