All photos taken by Nathan Dean.
For their National Honor Society (NHS) project, juniors Arya Shah, Arnibish Ray, and Henry Wallis as well as senior Ryan Li teamed up with the Chinese Culture Connection (CCC) to host a lovely winter festival with snacks, arts and crafts, holiday music, raffles, books and even Santa Claus!
Shah explained that the group decided to work with the CCC because they “really care about their community and have a large following.” He added that “I think they are the best way to reach the community.” Li continued on, saying, “[Shah] and I have a long connection with the Chinese Culture Connection.”
On top of the CCC, the group also had around ten to 15 high school students volunteer to help out. “I am very happy that so many people are volunteering to make this world a better place and help the society,” expressed Shah.
Profits gathered from book sales, and raffle tickets would be given to The Bread of Life, as well as the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Wallis explained that these two organizations gave them “the widest reach.”
Left to right: Juniors Johnny Nguyen and Pampam San (unseen) man the raffle baskets at the festival; The “book table” at the festival—books were sold for $0.50.
Also at the festival was a vaccine clinic, managed by the CCC, which just so happened to be on the same day. This worked out well for the festival as many people who had come only for the vaccine clinic decided to check the festival out as well.
For those interested in volunteering for upcoming events, Li recommends reaching out to the CCC, which holds lessons on Chinese language and culture every Saturday. Feel free to email CCC at info@chinesecultureconnection.org. The Youth Leadership and Mentoring club also offers similar opportunities and is managed by a leader of the CCC.
