Ni Hao! CCA Club Celebrates Chinese Culture
Members of CCA dressed as cartoon characters in last year’s Lunar New Year Festival in Chinatown.
Photo credit: Linda Zheng
By SHAMAIL NASEER
It’s the time of year where many students are frantically searching for a fun club to join and desperately trying to build up their volunteer hours. If this sounds like you, why not join Midwood’s Chinese Culture Association?
CCA meets every other Wednesday in room A316 during 11th period to spread knowledge of Chinese culture. Although the name is a bit misleading, don’t be discouraged! You don’t have to be Chinese to join.
“If you want to have a taste of a different culture and have fun with your friends, come to this club,” said Ms. Khrisna Alvarez, the club’s advisor.
CCA takes part in many events that are usually centered in Chinatown, including the Lunar New Year Lantern Festival, the Autumn Lantern Parade, the Mooncake Festival (Autumn Moon Festival), and many more. President Linda Zheng ’20 chose these events to provide “first hand experience” to her members and to encourage them to learn more about Chinese culture.
“I found that there was a lack of representation in Chinese culture,” said Zheng. “I felt that there should be a club that dedicates its time to going to events outside of school, particularly attending events such as the Moon Festival, Chinese New Year, the Firecracker Festival, and many other festivities.”
Zheng believes that this aspect is what differentiates CCA.
“Rather than focusing on Chinese music and dance like how C-Pop club does, CCA is a more general category about all aspects in culture, but primarily the Chinese holidays and traditions,” she said.
Although the club has a serious reason for attending such festivals and parades, the members love these events and often make great memories while volunteering together.
“My favorite memory was the Chinese New Year Parade when my friends and I were handing out stuff to people on the sidelines,” said Sally Hu ’20. “Despite the unexpected rain, we had a lot of fun partaking in the event.”
Victor Li ’20 said, “Lunar New Year festival was the most interesting as I got to dress up as Elmo and I got to make little children smile.”
For some, these events are a blast to the past alongside all the fun.
“I remember going to these parades with my family when I was little, but now that everyone is so busy, we don’t really go anymore,” said Vice President Tiffany Chen ’20. “These events allow me to relive those memories.”
The Chinese Culture Association is also a part of events held within the school, such as Midwood’s first Asian Festival that took place last year. The members played a variety of roles such as controlling lights and sound, teaching the audience origami, and even playing musical arrangements from movies like Mulan.
“I just loved how everyone was able to work together to put on a show in such a limited time,” said Chong. “And it was cool seeing everyone support each other’s acts.”
By volunteering around the community and within the school, CCA hopes to “encourage people who are interested to learn more about Chinese culture,” Zheng said.
Thanks to the club fair in October, Midwood’s CCA gained almost thirty new members from all four grades.
“I felt that people were more open and interested in learning about Chinese culture,” said Zheng, “Also, it was exciting to see how many people were actually joining the club.”
“My personal goal is to grow as an individual and allow students to be proud of their heritage,” said Mrs. Alvarez. “Not limited by it, but to extend themselves to the community and make an impact in the community.”
Zheng and Chen hope that students will have fun experiences and learn a lot while attending CCA.
“I encourage everyone to join,” said Chen. “You don’t have to be Chinese to join, and I think it’s a great way to experience different cultures.”
Nguyen Nguyen and Vinson Lin contributed to this article.