Nowruz at ISSD – The 35th Annual Celebration
Starting in late January, the school began preparations for the Nowruz celebration by practicing songs and “sorood,” a play, and other programs.
The preparation for the Nowruz haft-seen was on March 5. PTA members set up several stations for the students to color their eggs and take packages home to prepare their own sabzeh.
Then the big day came. The actual celebration was on Sunday, March 12, at the Performing Art Center of Del Norte High School. Over 400 parents, grandparents, students, and friends of the school, along with school staff, were present.
The program started with students and the audience singing “Ey Iran.” The students’ chorus continued with Alefba and a couple of folk songs. Throughout the program, five beautiful dances were performed by the students of our Dance Academy, along with music recitals. This year we had live piano and three singers who impressed the audience. In between the acts, the honors students and the Reading Olympics award winners were recognized.
Every year we dedicate the Nowruz program to a person or a group of people who were instrumental in promoting the Persian language and Iranian culture and art in the community. This year the program was presented to Ms. Atoosa Emami, the instructor of our Persian Dance Academy. Atoosa started ISSD in kindergarten when she was five, She finished the school and became a TA and then an instructor.
A beautiful haft-seen was prepared by Mrs. Roya Amini-khorsandian and set up in the lobby of the auditorium. Traditionally, we auction off each haft-seen item to help fulfill the school’s financial obligations. From the sale of this year’s haft-seen and the silent auction, we were able to raise over fourteen thousand dollars.
The sound for the event, as in the past, was provided by Saman. The videography and photography were done by Iman Baherbakhsh of Lexur Media. The video is available on the school’s YouTube channel (iranianschoolsd).
