On June ninth of 2024, the Roslyn AYLUS branch helps out at the school of CCA- The Chinese Cultural Association of Long Island in the evening from 12:45 p.m.to 4:00 p.m. Today is the graduation ceremony for the students at the Chinese school.
Usually, the volunteers would enter the Great Neck South High School, take a group picture, and go to their assigned classes. Then the teachers would assist the teachers of their assigned classroom to help keep the classroom from chaos. They kept the classrooms prolific and motivated by tutoring the kids that needed aid by rereading or repeating the questions on their textbooks while communicating with them in Mandarin. Then later in the second part of class, the volunteers would go to their assigned cultural classes which are related to the Chinese culture. For example in classes like arts and craft, kids learned to make lanterns; in calligraphy, kids learned to do traditional chinese writing with a mao bi; and in dance, kids learned to do chinese dances with the teacher.
Today was different, today was the graduation ceremony for the students at the Chinese school. The ceremony started early at 12:45 and lasted for 3 hours and 15 minutes. The ceremony started with a speech from the president, he states he was the vice president when he met the class that was graduating，which is about 8 years ago. The ceremony Aldo celebrated for a teacher that has worked here for the 30th year. People clapped loudly to celebrate for this teacher. Each class and their students went up stage and each we’re handed awards from the president. The older students made speeches about their experience at the Chinese school, recalling their first day here. Cultural classes made performances: Chinese Kung Fu class demonstrated their skills, the singing class sent three of their best students up stage to demonstrate their singing skills, and the dance class wore performance dresses to show the audience a dance about one of the dynasties in Ancient China. Lastly the students were given coupons by their teachers to award them for their year’s hard work.
Members who participated include:
Leah Chen (3.5 hours), Charleen Fu (2 hours), Matthew Zhong (3.5 hours), Chloe Wu (2 hours), Hunter Chen (3.5 hours), Jasmine Wang (3.5 hours), Tiffany Lin (3.5 hours), William Wei (3.5 hours), Mingyao Xu (2.5 hours), Angeline Li (3.5 hours)
Reporter: Mingyao Xu