Sunday February 16, NC Bloom and Chinese Headlines held a joint celebration of the Chinese Lantern Festival. In addition to our volunteers, some of the staff at Chinese Headlines were also here to commemorate our collaboration for the past several months. The news site has been helping to train our Young Journalists Group and providing practical opportunities in journalism, cultivating students’ societal awareness and real-world communication abilities.

The celebration featured fruits, [some sort of cake? Insert food item here because i dont remember], and two large bowls of tangyuan—a traditional dessert for this occasion: small rice flour balls, some with a red bean paste filling. Our students spent parts of the afternoon hand-making these rice balls with guidance from parents, and although the results were imperfect, the students were able to enjoy the products of their own hand cooked into delicious soups.

Later, the parents of our students even began a spontaneous karaoke session with traditional Chinese and Cantonese music—showing how NC Bloom is becoming not just an initiative, but also a close-knit family of students and broader community members with a shared mission.