The newly launched Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community at Diablo Valley College kicked off Lunar New Year celebrations at the Pleasant Hill campus on Feb. 8 in collaboration with the Contra Costa Chinese School.

“I’ve been part of the celebration [since] last year,” said Charlie X. Shi, the campus lead for the school’s AANHPI academic program. 

“It looks wonderful and I feel as though it really needs to be shared with a larger group, with folks at DVC, folks in our district, as well as the local community.” 

With the focus of bringing the campus together while also creating an inclusive environment for AANHPI students, Shi invited the entire community to celebrate the Lunar New Year Festival. 

Lunar New Year is considered the most important and traditional festival in Chinese culture, a time symbolizing reunion, renewal and hope, when Asian communities and families wish each other good fortune and prosperity for the year ahead. 

The first day of Lunar New Year is the first new moon between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20. The 15-day celebration lasts until the full moon. 

The growing AANHPI community at DVC that formally launched this semester celebrates and shares its culture with pride and love, said Shi.

“There’s a lot of celebrating AANHPI pride because we find celebrating students’ backgrounds can make them realize that we are creating [in] this safe space a learning community for them,” said Shi. 

“It really helps them belong, the sense of belonging takes a lot. It really takes a village, and that’s what we are working on.” 

AANHPI is a community meant to help Asain American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students at DVC thrive personally, academically and professionally, he added. 

The community does more than create safe spaces for students. For Triston Lee, it helped him feel more connected to his family members who reside in Taiwan. 

Lee, a student at Diablo Valley Chinese School, said celebrating the Lunar New Year Festival at DVC strengthened his ties to family as it invited students and members of the community to experience the culture.

“It is cool to be celebrating here because it’s usually celebrated more in Asia. It makes America more included in this type of cultural event,” said Lee.

Shi said AANHPI will continue to host more events to help spread their cultural message.

“A lot of students feel like there is a good AANHPI presence, and some feel like there’s not enough,” he added, “so we need to do more for them.”