One Step at a Time: UPCSA Today
News | Ashley Cua
From going full-throttle in hybrid celebrations for the 2022 Mid-Autumn Festival to opening the new lunar year with a lion dance on the legendary AS steps, UPCSA has come back to the campus with a bang! As we’ve journeyed quite far from the uncertain, difficult days of 2020, let us take a recap on the organization’s steps towards bringing back traditional Chinese celebrations to the UP Community from late 2022 to early 2023.
Lighting the Way: Mini-games and Lantern Workshop
To kick off the Mid-Autumn 2022 celebrations, UPCSA posted a cultural publication and launched a series of mini-games on Facebook, which not only brought fun but also offered cash prizes to participants, ranging from 50 pesos to even 500 pesos.
The Research and Academics committee also hosted their first online lantern-making workshop on September 24 to guide participants in creating colorful, DIY creations based on traditional Chinese lanterns, lotus flower, and a mooncake pattern. The online set-up unfortunately limited the event to a few small groups but participants were able to concentrate and enjoy making their chosen designs. The participants’ works of art can be found displayed on the organization’s Facebook page.
Walking the Moon-lit Path Together with Dice Games
No Mid-Autumn festival celebration is complete without a dice game, but last 2022, the Cultural and Social Affairs committee of CSA hosted not just one, but two dice games. On October 1, the CSA community, in partnership with Rebisco, participated in the first face-to-face dice game since the pandemic. Over 60 members were able to attend and receive delightful prizes, as well as enjoy a scrumptious dinner at the Golden Empire Chinese Cuisine. Moreover, a virtual dice game was also held on October 8, the following week, in order to extend the celebrations to anyone who wished to try their luck and win prizes. This virtual event was catered to those who weren’t able to attend the onsite event, the organization’s applicants, and to interested participants from inside and outside the UP community.
This incredible feat was in fact, like juggling two huge projects according to Tyrell So, Vice President of the Cultural and Social Affairs committee. He and the committee were especially determined to host the first face-to-face dice game in three years, however, they had to face budget constraints considering they wanted the prize budget per table to be bigger. Compared to 2021’s online event of ten breakout rooms, the prize budget became around three times more. The reservation cost and logistics also factored into the budgetary challenge, however, the sponsorship from Rebisco helped sort things out.
This left room for Kayra Paras, Director for Event Materials, to organize shopping trips to Divisoria for the other prizes. The experience in preparing for both online and onsite dice games felt incredibly fulfilling for her, as she was also the point person for delivering the prizes to online participants. Though the committee was fatigued in preparing the dice games back-to-back, she found that the celebration was a great opportunity to bring together members and applicants alike, something beyond the virtual hangouts one had to compromise with for the past three years.
Hopping in Joy for the Lunar New Year!
Luckily, there are even more joyful events to come in CSA! As the new year rolled around, the university opened its doors to the students on a hybrid set-up. Seizing the opportunity, UPCSA, endorsed by UP Diliman OICA, celebrated Chinese New Year with a traditional lion dance held on the AS steps on February 17, 2023. The Xavier Dragon and Lion Dance gave a delightful performance to everyone passing by the area, giving away free candy and fun photo poses.
Along with the lion dance, CSA also celebrated the Chinese New Year with another series of Facebook mini-games, a Valentines’ Milk Tea Sale, and the first Chinese lanterns on the Student Union Building in over three years!
With these many steps forward, the path ahead of UPCSA turns brighter and brighter, all the more as its 60th founding anniversary approaches. What more could be in store for the UP community through CSA?
