Student celebrates Chinese Moon Festival

CULTURAL EXPOSURE—Sara Qianrong Sun, Viewpoint's 2008-09 exchange student from China, celebrates the Chinese Moon Festival at a party with her host family and other Viewpoint families. Three families from Viewpoint School in Westlake Village hosted a party to celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival and welcome Sara Qianrong Sun, an exchange student from China.

Observed when the moon is closest to the earth, the Moon Festival is one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. It is a time when families gather together, watch the full moon and eat special food.

"It was so nice to be able to spend the holiday with these wonderful Viewpoint families," said Sara. "It was great to have an evening of eating moon cakes and speaking Chinese."

The celebration was organized by Viewpoint first-grade parents Sabrina and William Shang.

Sabrina Shang remembered the loneliness she felt during the holidays when she moved to the United States at the age of 18.

Also included in the festivities were the families of first-grade parents Frances and Michael Lin; first and fifthgrade parents Victor and Nancy Wu; Viewpoint's Upper School Chinese teacher Ming Hodgson and her husband, Gregor; and director of admission Laurel Baker Tew and her daughter Lucy. The Tews are Sara's host family for the school year.

After just a few weeks at Viewpoint, Sara is starting to feel at home and enjoying a range of classes not offered at her school in Shanghai. Her courses include filmmaking, Latin, U.S. history and modern dance, as well as advanced placement biology and calculus.

Sara said she enjoys the small class size and the friendliness and accessibility of her teachers.

"At my school in China, each of our classes has 50 students, so it is difficult to get to know your instructors," Sara said.

The girl is attending Viewpoint through the American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers program and is the school's first exchange student from China.

Sara, who is interested in studying artificial intelligence, hopes to attend a university in the United States at the end of her two-year exchange program.