International Night 2011
Students and teachers leading 1,400 visitors through the fantasy journey of YHKCC Airlines
Themed with YHKCC Airlines, YHKCC has drawn close to 1,400 visitors to our school campus on Saturday 10th December 2011 to join the fantasy journey. Organized by YHKCC with support from parents and friends, the International Night is held every year in December aiming at to celebrating the cross-cultural diversity within the school community. It is an annual event for students, parents, their friends and the public to celebrate different cultures, taste international food, enjoy various performances and experience our school life.
For this year’s event, we had 24 international food stalls serving with a wide variety of cuisine: Chinese BBQ pork, Singapore fried noodles, Korean kimchee noodles, Japanese sushi, French fries with honey mustard, Indian samosa, Pakistan snacks, Spanish chilaquiles rojos, chicken skewers and many more, while 10 bazaar stalls were also for selling different kinds of products, allowing visitors to shop, enjoy and experience the festive atmosphere. The entire school campus was decked out with national flags and it became a mini United Nations soon filled with students, parents and visitors wearing different ethnic costumes, sharing different cultures, traditions and food.
Officiating at the opening ceremony of the International Night included Mr. Ray Purvis, CEO of the YMCA of Hong Kong and School Supervisor of YHKCC; Dr. Nick Miller, Principal of Australia International School of Singapore and Mr. Evans Mendonca, Chairman of PTA. They were accompanied by Mr. Dion Chen, Acting Principal of YHKCC, to kick off the ceremony by dotting two Chinese tradition lions’ eyes. Speaking at the opening address, Mr. Purvis said, “Thank you for coming to YHKCC’s International Night. It is a wonderful experience to go around and enjoy the food, the costumes and the cultures from varies countries. YMCA of Hong Kong is thrilled to be part of the sponsoring body of YHKCC. We look ahead to the future of the educational and the growth opportunities to your students; we also look ahead to be able to grow on the foundation that had been laid. Tonight I hope you enjoy yourself and enjoy being part of the YHKCC’s family.” While two lions dancing through the school campus, two groups of young dancers from India and Nepal performed Bollywood dance and Nepalese Dance to delight hundreds of visitors. The school campus soon overflowed with joy and excitement.
The highlight of the evening was the International Show with a gracious group of Bagpipe in their uniform and students holding different national flags at the YHKCC bi-plane entrance to greet the ‘passengers’. At the ceremony, Mr. Chen said, “Thank you for boarding our YHKCC Airlines. This is the fifth consecutive year that we organize this fantastic fiesta to celebrate the cross-cultural diversity of our school. YHKCC is a mini United Nations providing a harmonious multi-cultural environment to our students. We have students from over 40 different nationalities. We hope that we can give them a good platform to share the experience of different countries and also share different cultures with students, parents and visitors. I am very proud of our wonderful and resilient students in the preparation work. Their efforts in the past two months will be fully demonstrated in the International Show that marks the finale of the event. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our students, parents, teachers, staff and volunteers for making it such an enjoyable and successful night.”
The show began with rousing songs where our talent singers and musicians from China, Africa, France, The Philippines and America showcased an international medley to the audience. Over 100 dramatic dancers were then shone through Chinese fan dance, martial arts, Hollywood dance, hip hop, jazz, Hispanic Salsa, Irish tap dance, Indian Bhangra and Modern Bollywood, Nepalese Karkala Gava and more. The audience was taken by the YHKCC Airlines, to fly this fantasy journey to all places in the world.
The International Night was truly a fitting end to the festive season and jubilant atmosphere and will long be an unforgettable memory for the entire school. The school looks forward to this multi-cultural fiesta next year.
