MD Holiday Party 2016

By YLan Nguyen, MD Middle School Programs Coordinator
Photos Courtesy of Chelsea Iorlano, Development and Communications Associate

To close off the first semester of AALEAD programs in Montgomery County, we had our annual AALEAD Maryland Holiday Party. This year’s theme, courtesy of the Maryland Middle School Youth Council members, was “Winter Masquerade Around the World.” We wanted to recognize the various traditions that countries around the world celebrate around this time of year. Below are pictures of the regional flags that AALEAD youth created.

Youth across our sites were responsible for decorations based on regions around the world including East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Eastern Europe, East Africa, and South America. All sites created posters of country flags to display at the party along with short descriptions of the country’s winter traditions. Youth had the opportunity to not only learn about different countries and traditions around the world, many of which they had not heard of, but to share the information with the AALEAD family. In the back of the room was a mask decorating station (pictured below) where attendees could create paper masks any way they’d like.

The Holiday Party itself was exciting. Raffles were distributed throughout the event and attendees were able to leave the party with chocolate, gift cards, and school supplies. We had dinner catered by Seven Seas Restaurant as well as our highly-anticipated Youth Talent Showcase. Youth talents included acapella singing, ukulele and guitar singing, dancing, poetry reading, and fine motor skills. We are so impressed with the talent this year.

The MD Holiday Party was a wonderful and exciting way to end the year. Thank you to the AALEAD staff for support and to the Middle and High School Youth Council members for planning. Thank you to community members, Seven Seas Restaurant, and Montgomery County Recreation for helping make the MD Holiday Party a huge success.

Stay tuned to hear what the New Year has in store for us here at AALEAD!