Students and faculty gathered at the Skirball Center for the annual Harvard-Westlake Chinese Cultural Club (HWCCC) Chinese New Year Banquet, celebrating the Year of the Snake on Feb. 23. Each Chinese language class performed at the event, featuring acts ranging from a traditional lion dance to a Jeopardy-style game show.
According to the HWCCC Executive Board, the Snake represents intelligence, mystery and renewal. This year marks the Year of the Wood Snake, symbolizing development, flexibility and tolerance.
Sarah Parmet ’25, an Honors Chinese Literature student, said her language class has deepened her understanding of Chinese culture through preparation for the banquet.
“I have had such an amazing time in Honors Chinese Literature this year,” Parmet said. “Upper School World Languages Teacher Bin He is such a good teacher. He cares about us not only as students but also as people. For the banquet, we had a choice between MTV, making a video, dancing and singing. I picked singing because I enjoy singing in choir, and the other soloists were also people I knew from choir.”
Master of Ceremony (MC) Liv Kriger ’25 said she felt that being able to lead the banquet was a full-circle moment.
“I have been attending the luncheon since my first year at the lower school,” Krieger said. “I always imagined myself growing in through the Chinese program and one day being the senior that the younger kids were looking up to. The luncheon was almost canceled because of the recent LA fires, and I knew I wanted to be a part of this moment where our community came together and celebrated as one.”
Kriger, who is not ethnically Chinese, said although it was a more challenging language, she is glad she chose to take the language.
“Whenever I told people I took Chinese, they were always surprised,” Kriger said. “It was a challenge and a little scary to have the courage to join a language class that typically drew people from a Chinese background, and I had none. However, I soon learned that it was more of a strength than a weakness to not only learn a new language I knew nothing about but also about a culture that is intricate and unique. Being in the Chinese Language program, I found another community and family within the school that I hold close to my heart.”
World Languages Teacher Li Sun said she thinks the banquet is a good opportunity for those who are not proficient in Chinese to experience an aspect of Chinese culture.
“The banquet is always a good opportunity for students to see how important their language and cultural proficiency is,” Sun said. “I feel like music and food are two things that help us instantly connect to another culture, even when we are not proficient in that culture’s language. So the event has an aspect of cultural immersion.”
Sun said she hopes to incorporate more media-based presentations in the program next year.
“What I liked about this year’s program is that I have smaller classes this year compared to previous years, so some of my classes combined to perform together,” Sun said. “I feel like they did a really good job. I’m proud of them. In terms of improvements for the program, we can make the programs more inclusive for students that cannot go in person. Maybe they could create artwork that we use for the program books, or they can make a video that we show during the banquet.”
