DC Holiday Party Festivities!

By Shobana Modur, DC Middle and High School Program Coordinator

Photos courtesy of AALEAD Staff

On December 17th, the DC AALEAD team held their annual Holiday Party for the students at Thomson and Bancroft Elementary.  The event was held at Asbury Methodist Church with roughly 100 youth, family, and guests in attendance.  Before the program began, the DC Middle and High School student volunteers worked diligently to ensure the elementary students were having the best time!  Some activities included caricature drawings, ping-pong ball toss, face-painting, origami and snowflake-making, and ‘pin the nose’ on Olaf.  The elementary students were scrambling around to enjoy each and every event for the fabulous raffle prizes.

When the program began, DC Programs Manager, Micah, and Executive Director, Surjeet, said a few words about the remarkable young AALEADers and presented a video created by DC AALEAD teacher, Justin.  In this video, Justin asked his students their favorite memory with AALEAD.  One special portion of the night was when the students gave gifts to the AALEAD teachers for their hard work and dedication this past year.  Lastly, by the end of the night, each elementary school student was given a gift, thanks to our friends at Deloitte and the Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs.

All in all, the holiday party was a huge success, as each student left with a gift and a big smile on their face!  A very special thanks to the DC AALEAD Middle and High School students, who volunteered their time before and after the party to help with gift-wrapping, decorating signs, and leading all of the pre-program activities.  Have a great holiday and here’s to the upcoming year!