A traditional lion dance is performed during the Year of the Horse celebration held in February at West Orange High School.
WEST ORANGE — A multicultural, multi-school celebration of the Year of the Horse was held at West Orange High School on Feb. 28, replete with colorful performances, vendors, and joy.
The event was presented in partnership with the West Orange Public Schools World Language Chinese program and local community group United Asian Voices of West Orange.
The Year of the Horse brings with it purportedly exciting and dynamic possibilities: energy and a fast pace, independence and freedom, stubbornness and resilience, and social adventurousness.
An added element, known as the 2026 Fire Horse, will offer high passion and intensity in its rare 60-year cycle.
“It is incredible to see how this event has grown,” West Orange High School Chinese teacher Yajing Li. “In the past, this was ‘the Chinese Club New Year Gala.’ Today, thanks to the West Orange district and United Asian Voices, the Gala has evolved into an even more vibrant event that reflects the true diversity of our community. While we celebrate the beautiful traditions of Lunar New Year the Chinese way, the Korean way, and the Vietnamese way, we also create space for everyone, regardless of heritage, to have a seat at the table. And as a teacher, I’m always in favor of a bigger table… mostly because it means more voices, more cultures, and significantly more varieties of dumplings.”
Li said AI translation apps will never be able to provide the connection students feel when using what they’ve learned during a performance.
“You can’t ‘Google Translate’ the discipline it takes to master Mandarin Chinese, you definitely cannot Google Translate the pride of not only speaking one or two western languages, but also be fluent in Chinese, the most spoken Asian language,” Li said. “Seeing our students collaborate today reminds us that language is more than just vocabulary and grammar; they are building the bridge of cross-cultural understanding. Keeping Chinese in our schools ensures that our students aren’t just living in a global world—they’re leading it.”
The event included students from Kelly Elementary, St. Cloud Elementary, Edison, Liberty, and Roosevelt Middle Schools and West Orange High School, who regaled attendees with dynamic performances, including: Dragon Dance; Tai Chi demonstration; Peking Opera; Singing and Poetry; Step Teams; Lion Dance; Chinese Fan and Ribbon Dances; Tajik Dance; K-Pop Dance and C-Pop Dance.
World Languages Supervisor Felix Plata acknowledged “the hard work, dedication, and passion of our wonderful teachers of the Chinese program,” which include: Jun Lewin from WOHS; Ted McGurrin from Liberty Middle School; Chiaohan Yu from Roosevelt Middle School; Dongmei Li from Edison Middle School; and Yajing Li from WOHS.
The Mission of the Chinese program and Word Language Program has three pillars at its core: To develop students’ multilingual ability; For students to graduate globally competent, which is to internalize an understanding that we are a global society with people from across the globe who have valuable, different and similar perspectives, traditions, and customs; For students to graduate as culturally responsive citizens; that is to have the skill set to effectively interact with respect with those who have different perspectives, customs and traditions.
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