While many of the students at Malden High School are aware about Lunar New Year, the class of 2022 helped to enlighten others about the holiday that took place the weekend of January 25 through their Red envelope fundraiser.
Sophomore Christelle Jean, the secretary for the class of 2022, stated that the idea behind the fundraiser came about from “the fact that [they] wanted to celebrate a holiday other than Valentine’s Day and realized no one really acknowledges the Asian American centered celebrations.”
Due to the cultural diversity at Malden High School, the class of 2022 officers all agreed that this would be a great way to celebrate a holiday many students at Malden High participate in with their families at home and bring “acceptance and respect to the Asian culture,” within the student body.
With this in mind they took the opportunity to represent the culture and their celebrations in a way where everyone could learn about a tradition of an ethnic holiday and show people something new.
Traditionally the red envelopes are little red packets with money inside that family and friends often give to kids on Chinese New Year as a gift to bring good luck in the new year.
However the class officers took a spin on the tradition by filling them with chocolates and quotes.
Class Treasurer Sammi Nie stated that students would buy the envelopes and they would “come with Dove chocolates (the bigger the envelope, the more chocolate) and also a fortune. The fortunes [were] mainly funny and there [were] some inspirational ones as well.”
The fundraiser was a fusion between comedy and culture, and brought much laughter throughout the halls as students ate their chocolates and read their comedic pick up lines, puns, and one liners.
The red envelopes were a favorite among the student body at Malden High School as the sales went “really well” and Nie stated that on just the first day of sales they had “sold out, and it was really successful in profit and in spreading joy.”
The class of 2022 officers stated that “a lot of people both students and staff said that, in their years here, there [were not] a lot of Lunar New Year themed fundraisers.”
The concept was very original and it brought a lot of appreciation and recognition to the Asian community and overall changed the perspective a lot of people had for the class of 2022.
Despite not having a class advisor for the first year of high school, they are certainly making up for the time lost and have many more fun and exciting fundraisers and events planned for the future.
