An Asian Celebration Event-otherwise known as ACE-will be held on the 30th of June (TBC) at Newstead Wood School. This Asian celebration aims to celebrate and recognise the massive diversity within Asian cultures-through cultural food, music, singing, dancing, fashion shows and more!

The idea came about in Asian Society held at Friday lunchtimes weekly at Newstead, which was created by Sophie Barbe and Zaara Ahad in Year 12. I spoke to Sophie-one of the main organisers-about her take on this event. She said, “Zaara and I started South and East Asian Society this year as we thought it would be great to have a place where we could discuss and celebrate our culture with other people from similar cultures.” I attended these weekly sessions, and several interesting topics were discussed, such as: gender roles in Asian households, the commercialisation of Asian festivals, etc.

Sayuri Akahane (Y12) then suggested there be an event in which we celebrate Asian Culture (almost named Celebrasian). The idea was inspired by a similar event held at Newstead-APOS-which celebrates African and Caribbean culture-which was, rightfully, a tremendous success. Sophie then went on to describe the course of action: “We gathered a group of Y12s to help us organise the various different parts of the event, such as Jananee Elankumaran and Anika Tibrewal, who are largely responsible for holding auditions for the acts.”

The event will involve acts from several distinct parts of Asia, and Sophie commented on how difficult the selection process is due to the abundance of talent at our school! There will also be delicious food and a highly anticipated fashion show.

All Y12s involved wanted to “celebrate Newstead's amazing Asian community, and to create an opportunity to showcase talent from many different Asian cultures” through this event. Sophie has voiced that she hopes it will be a fun occasion in which you can share your culture and heritage with the rest of Newstead. I am sure it will be! Everyone is eagerly anticipating this event; with hope that it will not only be undeniably enjoyable, but also help spread awareness of the Asian community and its vast diversity.