Students celebrate Lunar New Year at Algonquin College

Feb. 17 marked the start of the Year of the Horse with the first new moon of the lunar calendar, and Algonquin College students were in the mood to celebrate.

The Lunar New Year is celebrated in many Asian countries, including China, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and more.

According to the Algonquin College 2025 Workforce Diversity Summary Report, 23.8 per cent of staff identified as members of racialized groups. Roughly 40 per cent of students in Ontario identify as part of a visible minority group, according to the Youthrex Research and Evaluation Exchange.

This makes cultural representation at the college more important than ever, especially during times of celebration.

According to students, the Lunar New Year celebration accomplished exactly what it means to be represented.

The celebration held in E-building had kiosks with traditional games, banh mi, K-drama presentations and activities like paper-cutting, also known as jiǎnzhǐ. The atmosphere of the event was bright, colourful and full of joy.

Student Liangyu Chiu said he looks forward to Lunar New Year celebrations.

“Lunar New Year is pretty special. It’s basically the same as passing the new year, like January first.

“You’re celebrating with your family, with your loved ones. It can mean reunion with some members that you haven’t seen in a long time. It’s also to give your wishes; wishing them well, health and prosperity,” Liangyu said.

“There’s a lot more to that, but the biggest part is to wish your loved ones a good year.”

Students reported feeling culturally represented by the event and were pleased to be able to represent their own communities on stage.

“I feel great. I’m really grateful that I could show our culture to other ethnicities or other nationalities, because it’s a multicultural country. It’s really great that I could show a little bit of our culture to people that don’t know about it,” said Sohyeon Shin, who represented Korea at the event’s dedicated speech portion.

“We are part of Koreans and introducing our culture. I got to represent that today.” Shin added.

Other students, while not traditionally celebrating the event, had it introduced to them by friends.

“The person who told me about it was actually him,” said Rachel Musyoki, a friend of Liangyu’s.

“It does seem like a really nice time to celebrate with family, according to what I’m seeing right now.”

Overall, students enjoyed the event, the time taken to organize it and the message that the event spread across campus.

“They’re doing a good job,” Liangyu said.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t think they could do much, due to the budget and the space. A lot of it has to do with food, a lot of it has to do with spending time with your loved ones — but I think they’re doing really good with what they have.”