Dragon Descendants Celebrate Lunar New Year at Pennswood Village

In February, IB students Cecilia Li ’25 and Peter Tang ’25 hosted “Welcoming the Year of the Dragon at our Lunar New Year Celebration: An Intergenerational Experience,” at the local Pennswood Village Community, sharing their pride for their Chinese culture and educating others. This was completed in part of their International Baccalaureate (IB) Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) project as IB Diploma candidates.

The IB CAS project is a unique feature of the IB diploma where students work on a month-long project that requires them to demonstrate creativity, activity, and service outside of the classroom. This is completed in a variety of ways, such as playing an instrument, engaging in a team sport, or volunteering at a local soup kitchen.

Cecilia and Peter knew they could use this project as an opportunity to share their heritage and traditions with others.

“We wanted it to be a project with richness and fun, not only as a project to fulfill the IB requirement,” said Peter. “Our inspiration was initially our passion and love for our identities and culture. We really love the country where we are from, China, and we wanted to spread Chinese culture to more people who are not originally familiar with it.”

“I wanted to do something with Pennswood,” added Cecilia. “It is a great opportunity for residents to learn what Chinese traditions are really like.”

The event included a Q&A session centered on Chinese history and tradition, followed by a delicious taste test of dumplings Cecilia and Peter made for the residents. Around seventy residents participated in the event, which was well received by all involved.

“We not only shared our experiences with Lunar New Year, we also invited the residents to talk about their impressions of this traditional Asian holiday,” Cecilia shared. “I could genuinely feel how much fun both the audience and we were having during the event!”

“They came back to campus with so much excitement and pride in the learning experience they had. They took a risk, practiced skills, and succeeded. They created an earned achievement,” IB Program Coordinator Kim McGlynn noted.

Cecilia and Peter call themselves the “Dragon Descendants,” a homage to Chinese history and language. “The dragon is a very lucky and holy symbol in Chinese culture, and in some folklore, dragons are the ancestors of Chinese people,” explained Peter.

They worked with the Pennswood staff to coordinate time for the session, prepared their presentation and activities, and cooked dumplings based on the residents’ preferences. “I was absolutely amazed by how passionate the Pennswood community was about Chinese culture, which made me so proud of our work,” reflected Cecilia.

“My biggest takeaway was the importance of planning. It was because of our long-term planning that this event was so successful and beloved by every participant,” continued Peter.

In 1985, George School became one of the first independent schools in the country to offer the IB and has been a staple of the GS experience ever since–advancing students into internationally-minded, compassionate, and knowledgeable members of their community.

“The IB program fosters the holistic growth of students and educates future global citizens. It requires students to accomplish more than just studying academically, but also studying life outside the classroom,” described Peter. “Joining the IB Diploma Program was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my high school life here at George School.”

Cecilia describes the program as “Challenging, but definitely worth the challenge.”

Cecilia and Peter are planning to host additional sessions at Pennswood in the future.

Learn more about the IB Program at George School.