In China, the lunar new year is considered the biggest holiday of the year, often likened to a combination of American Thanksgiving and Christmas combined. Billions of people join the largest human migration in history, popularly known as chun yun (春运), heading to their hometowns to spend the holidays with loved ones. For many Chinese students studying in the U.S., traveling home is not possible due to the timing of holiday breaks, thus Project Pengyou Chapters across the nation join a national Pay it Forward on Chinese New Year campaign (PIFOCNY) to offer both a way to celebrate the Spring Festival as well as give back to the local community and teach young kids about the holiday.

This year was our third national PIFOCNY and one of our biggest yet. It is no small feat for busy college and high school students  to organize classroom visits in their community, but the memories, experience the Chapter leaders gain and the impact these visits have on the cultural curiosity of young kids is priceless. We are so proud of all of our Chapters that participated in this year’s campaign. Congratulations to this year’s PIFOCNY Challenge winners!

• 3rd Place Winners: The Project Pengyou University of Tennessee, Knoxville Chapter, TN
• 2nd Place Winners: The Project Pengyou Northern State University Chapter, SD
• 1st place Winners: The Project Pengyou University of California, Berkeley, Chapter, CA

Many of our Chapters not only visited a local school but were able to visit multiple schools and classrooms, impacting more xiao pengyous and encouraging global citizenship and international friendship. One Chapter even opted to visit an immigrant justice advocacy firm, assisting immigrants with various struggles to pay it forward in their community. Here are some of our favorite photos below:

Want to get involved in our Pay it Forward Campaign? Check out our page to see how: http://projectpengyou.org/pifocny/