I recently attended a belated New Year's party hosted by the community of local Asian-American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) small businesses in the Chicagoland area. I've been participating in pop-up markets with many of the members since August 2023 and it was the first time I was invited to a party with them. The host and most of the business owners were Filipino, and so I went to the party with expectations of Filipino festivities and flair - karaoke, great food, lots of stories from the homeland to exchange, and bonding over the experiences of being AAPI folk working hard to establish our businesses and represent our culture (Fun fact: Many of us were featured in the Black Eyed Peas' apl. de. ap's 2024 holiday music video as community partners - so we were celebrating that as well).

I had a great time celebrating our collective hopes for the new year and it reminded me of a Tagalog word that I often hear about when Filipinos gather together: Kapwa.

At the beginning of the school year I wrote about the word bayanihan and I thought it was only fitting to share the word kapwa with you at the beginning of this calendar year. Kapwa, in essence, means "togetherness" or "shared identity." When Filipinos talk about fellow Filipinos, we often use the term "Kapwang Pilipino." It harkens to shared humanity and connection to roots.

Kapwa itself comes from an even older prefix word, ka, which can be traced to the pre-colonial Tagalog script baybayin. It is written as two parallel curved arrows with a line connecting them in the middle - symbolizing the way that peoples' pasts and presents flow and intersect. It's found in words like kapamilya (family), kapatid (sibling), kasaysayan (history), and even kababayan (fellow countryman/countrywoman).

Celebrations of new beginnings embody the ideas of ka and kapwa - we celebrate the past and the present with those we cherish. Traditions of fireworks, red envelopes, greetings with blue sashes, bowing, dancing, food, and even superstitions tether us to those in the past and our own wishes for a bright future.

May you find ka and kapwa during family dinners, in close conversations, serendipitous connections with strangers, and even in parties with friends old and new throughout this year.

• Chinese Lunar New Year - January 29, 2025
• Seollal - January 29, 2025
• Tet - January 29, 2025
• Tsagaan Sar - March 1, 2025

Black History Month Teaching Resources from the National Education Association

Resources from the Smithsonian Institution

We are still in need of volunteers and performances! Let a GGCP member know if you are interested!

This upcoming Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the year of the snake. We asked students what they think that means.

In Chinese mythology, the order of the Chinese zodiac was determined by a race held by the Jade Emperor. Why is was the cunning rat first? Who came in last? Watch this video to learn more about the race and celebrate the year of the snake with us on January 24th!

What are ways you mark new beginnings?

The GGCP acknowledges the land upon which Glen Grove School stands on and in being part of this community, we want to share resources to further our students' and families' knowledge of the land and respect communities of past and present.

Special thank you to Dr. Ellison for also donating on behalf of the GGCP as part of the land acknowledgement at the most recent Remembering Loved Ones Event on October 25, 2024.

• Katherine Ellison, Glen Grove Principal
• Aurora Joaquin, Glen Grove Speech-Language Pathologist
• Katelyn Kelleher, Glen Grove Psychologist
• Hedy Helfand, Glen Grove English Language Learning Teacher
• Lisa Funke, Glen Grove Learning Resource Center Director
• Nicole Bright, Glen Grove 4th Grade ClassroomTeacher
• Marie Chang-Pisano, Glen Grove Reading Intervention Associate
• Sylvia Gorski Duarte, District Title III Family Resource Teacher
• Lindsey Lurie, District Multilingual Instructional Coach

Email: GGCommunityProject@gmail.com

Instagram: @ggcommunityproject