Last week, the Upper School celebrated the Chinese New Year a day early, on Thursday, January 23. As part of the celebration, students watched an original, student-made film, an interesting dragon dance, and a couple rounds of “What’s in the Box?: Chinese New Year Edition.” All in all, students felt that it was a great celebration.

The assembly took three months to plan: the Culture Club started their preparations in late October. The dragon used was ordered from China last summer and assembled at Hammond. There were seven dance rehearsals, and students involved said that it is harder than it looks to use.

The video played at the assembly was made by the culture club. All the slides were drawn and animated by Yuhan Huang, and it was narrated by Ms. Breen. The game of “What’s in the Box?” had items specific to Chinese New Year.

“We were happy so many people wanted to volunteer.” Ms. McNutt said.

When asked what they would’ve liked to add if they had more time, Ms. McNutt said that she would’ve liked to have a longer speech, and a couple more rounds of “What’s in the Box?” She added that she would have liked to “call [on] some teachers and students on stage for an improvised dragon dance.”

Altogether, it was a great way to kick off the Year of the Rat.