INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Chinese New Year Lunch

Lunar New Year is the most important festival for people of Chinese background. Celebrations traditionally run from the evening before New Year (known as Chinese New Year Eve) to the fifteenth day (known as Lantern Festival). Chinese people usually celebrate this festival with a lot of activities, such as Dragon Dance and fireworks. Based on the Lunar Calendar, Lunar New Year indicates the first day of a new year, therefore, people often dress up with new clothes and greet to each other with blessings. Furthermore, Lunar New Year provides an opportunity for family members to gather together and have the reunion dinner. Children are usually given money in red paper envelopes by elders. One of the most famous food served in Lunar New Year is dumplings, which look like the ancient silver ingots and symbolize the assembly of wealth and fortune.

We organized a lunch last Wednesday for international students to celebrate Lunar New Year and accommodated them with dumplings, spring rolls and fried rice. As international students, they are far from their families and home countries and study in Australia on their own. Lunar New Year is definitely the moment for them to miss their parents, other family members and also traditional Chinese food.  Therefore, we’d like to provide this opportunity to help them feel more settled in school and help our local community to learn more about Chinese culture and tradition. All who attended enjoyed the lunch very much.  

Heidi Luo

International Student Program Assistant                                                                     

A message from the International Student Captain

The festivities of Chinese New Year continued to linger among the minds of the international students of Doncaster Secondary College following last week’s hefty lunch. The international students were showered with a plethora of aromatic scents and free flowing drinks. As the students filed in, they were swarmed by the wafting, tempting scents of the mixed rice, the pork dumplings and the spring rolls, which also hit a heavy punch on the faculty as everyone made a bee-line for the tray.

Among the faculty stood the International Student Co-ordinators, the Assistant Principals, the volunteer assistants for the International Student Program and the International Student Captains.

As the festivities continued, I, as one of the International Student Captains, gave an opening speech, briefly discussing the integrated community of Doncaster Secondary College. Mr Jeff Pavlou also spoke about the importance of the season in Chinese culture.

His heartfelt speech was on the pride of the faculty’s point of view of international students whom have found the courage to travel beyond their country in search for education. I wish all of you a Happy Chinese New Year and the best of luck this year!

Wesley, 12C

International Student Captain