SEA Board recognizes Chinese culture

To celebrate Chinese culture, the Student Events and Activities (SEA) Board will host a Chinese New Year-themed tabling event like SEA Thursday on Feb. 3 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Don Taft University Center Spine.

SEA Thursday is a bi-weekly event where organizations and outside vendors set up tables in the University Center to interact with students. Each SEA Thursday has a theme, and so far this academic year, the tabling has recognized Ramadan, Coming Out Week, Hispanic Heritage Month and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

SEA Board will decorate the University Center for the Chinese New Year, which is on Feb. 8. They also worked with Pink Buddha, a Chinese Restaurant in Davie, to provide catered food for students.

Along with food, students will also get to take part in a Chinese tradition. Two hundred red envelopes that contain chocolate money will be distributed to students at the event. Some of the envelopes will also contain vouchers that can be used at various vendors on campus.

According to Jeevana Pakanati, sophomore biology major and multicultural and diversity chair for SEA Board, giving money in red envelopes is a tradition that symbolizes good luck.

Pakanati said that the purpose of the theme is to bring attention to the Chinese New Year.

“We don’t really have a huge population of Asian students here, but I do want to target the ones that we do have,” Pakanati said.

The Chinese New Year, otherwise known as Spring Festival, is the most important holiday in China, according to history.com. It was created to honor ancestors and heavenly deities and unite families.

According to tradition, each year is also associated with one of the 12 zodiac animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog or pig. 2016 marks the year of the monkey and, according to chinahighlights.com, will focus on the monkey’s attribute of changeability.

Pakanati planned the event with Corey Chan, sophomore biology major and chair of SEA Thursday. Chan said that college is a time for learning and experiencing new things.

“If we have the opportunity to bring that to students, then we definitely should,” he said.

“The sooner you’re exposed to other cultures the less ignorant you are,” Pakanati said.

Pakanati wanted to incorporate a Chinese New Year theme because, last year, SEA Board hadn’t recognized Chinese culture at their tabling events.

“We take pride in our diversity, but there’s no reason to take pride in our diversity if we’re not going to celebrate all of it,” she said.

For more information, contact Pakanati at jb2277@nova.edu.

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