Hmong New Year celebrations takes place at Garden City, Woodland elementary schools

In advance of the large Minnesota Hmong New Year celebration that took place at the end of November in St. Paul, Garden City Elementary School celebrated and honored the holiday with festivities in classrooms and the school’s library media center on Nov. 25. 

Classes took turns visiting the media center throughout the day, where they watched a video about Hmong culture and the new year celebration, heard a presentation from district employee Halee Vang and looked at different Hmong cultural items. In classrooms, students were able to get creative with Hmong New Year-themed art projects. 

Minnesota is home to around 90,000 Hmong people, and Vang said approximately one-third of Garden City’s student population are Hmong. 

The same day, Woodland Elementary School students also celebrated Hmong New Year by inviting students to dress in Hmong cultural clothing or their own cultural clothing. The school’s library media center displayed student artwork related to Hmong New Year.