On Feb. 1, the Confucius Institute set up a booth outside the University Center at Webster University to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
The table was stocked with food such as rice crackers and milk tea cakes. The table also had key chains and small tiger plushies – celebrating the fact it is the year of the tiger.
Students passing by could stop to spin a colorful wheel to choose what kind of prize from the table they would receive. Naima Dawid, a sophomore at Webster who is an intern with the Confucius Institute, estimated that over 50 people stopped by the booth.
Dawid said initially, people were surprised by the fact that a booth was there. She said students have seen many events canceled or moved online because of COVID-19.
“And there hasn’t been a lot of activity on campus but once they stopped, they seemed really happy to participate. And it was a lot of fun. I could tell people were happy,” Dawid said.
Dawid said another intern, Olivia Apollo, could not be at the event. However, Dawid said she helped out with making crafts for the event. Webster senior Tess Davies also volunteered.
“It was a group effort. It was put together by the Confucius Institute. So it was the Confucius Institute plus the interns there,” Dawid said.
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Cas Waigand (she/her) was the editor-in-chief for the Journal (Spring 2021). She majored in journalism with a minor in photography. Cas also covered COVID-19 and the 2020 general election. She enjoys writing, watching Netflix, crocheting, and taking photos.
