Alexa Zhang
Say hello ↗
COMMUNITY PROJECT / ORGANIZER & HOST
A place atthe table.
For international students who cannot travel home, a shared meal and a familiar tradition can become a place to belong.
MY ROLE
Organizer & host
MY CONTRIBUTION
Planning, food & program
THE PURPOSE
A home away from home
Chinese New Year / a meal shared with friends and fellow students.
I know whatmissing home feels like.
I once stood in unfamiliar rooms wishing someone would reach out. Bringing people together for Chinese New Year is one way I can offer that welcome to someone else.
01 / WHAT I COORDINATE
A warm room takessome practical work.
I organize the gathering and program, prepare food with my host family’s help, and host the celebration.
01 / INVITE & ORGANIZE
Bring people into one room.
Gather international students and coordinate a place to celebrate together.
02 / PREPARE
Make familiar food possible.
Shop for ingredients and cook with support from my host family.
03 / HOST
Keep the conversation open.
Coordinate the program, welcome guests, and help the gathering feel shared.
02 / THE GATHERING
Tradition can travel with us.
Red decorations, a meal, and time together make familiar rituals part of a new place.
Chinese New Year / the gathering, photographed.
WHAT I LEARNED
A room becomeswelcoming through care.
A room is more than its walls and furniture. Through food, decoration, and the way people are welcomed, an ordinary place can hold homesickness and turn it into connection.
a familiar tradition, shared in a new place.
New Year at home / friends and a shared celebration.
THE SAME QUESTION, IN A DIFFERENT FORM
What helps someonefeel welcome here?
This is the question I bring into community work, and the question I carry back into the spaces I want to design.
