Archives - Sampan

Features October 11, 2024 0

WWII Pvt. Woo Returns for Burial After Nearly 80 Years

A full 79 years after his death, Private Kwack Keung Woo of the U.S. Army has finally been brought home to Agwam, Massachusetts. After falling in action in Biesdorf, Germany, in 1945, the private’s remains were not recovered until 1951 and only identified recently. “Once a soldier is identified, the family is given the option to have their loved one buried in a designated overseas military cemetery or repatriated to the United States to a local cemetery or a veterans […]

Arts October 11, 2024 0

Tribute: Boston Ballet’s DePrince Remembered as ‘Truly Inspiring’

by Kristen Si

Michaela Mabinty DePrince, a former dancer for the prestigious Boston Ballet and a champion for diversity in the arts, passed away at age 29 on Sept. 10. DePrince was an inspiration to countless dancers and artists around the world for her exceptional work both on and off the stage. “I personally felt Michaela was a beautiful dancer and truly inspiring in her ability to break through glass ceilings,” Beth Mochizuki, artistic director at the Asian American Ballet Project, told the […]

Education October 11, 2024 0

For Families With No College Education, B.C.’s Messina School Offers a First Shot

by Ava Belchez

At Messina College, a new branch of Boston College, students have the chance to be the first in their family to graduate college. Arielys Lugo, 18, is one such student who’s a member of the inaugural class that started earlier this summer. Messina “was everything I wanted in one school,” Lugo told the Sampan, during a recent visit to the college at its leafy Brookline campus. “I didn’t really know if I wanted to be in a four-year school, so […]

Education October 11, 2024 0

Fewer Minority Students FillHub’s Higher Education Seats

by Darren Liu

In the first school year since a United States Supreme Court ruling effectively ended affirmative action admissions policies, we’re already seeing shifts in who’s filling classrooms in colleges and universities in the Boston area. Following the six-to-three ruling, advocates of affirmative action feared that the proportion of minorities admitted into colleges and universities would fall, cutting off educational opportunities to those who need them the most. In addition Sampan interviewed and surveyed many area students who expressed dismay at the […]

Arts October 11, 2024 0

‘Join or Die’ Argues Clubs Can Save America. But Is It Just Groupthink?

by Harmony Witte

Is the downfall of Democracy dependent on something as simple as the decline of social clubs? That’s the central theme of “Join or Die,” a documentary film that screened at film festivals in 2023 and is currently making the rounds at community film screenings across the country. “The trend toward greater polarization in America did not begin five years ago. It certainly did not begin with Covid. It didn’t begin with Trump. It began 50 years ago. You can see […]

Education September 27, 2024 0

‘Most Famous Woman in China’ Visits Hub

by Yuchen Hong

Chinese author and mega celebrity Yue-Sai Kan, while on tour at Boston University’s Tsai Performance Center on Sept. 16, discussed her cross-cultural influence in promoting China abroad, and introduced her aptly titled new book, “The Most Famous Woman in China.” Kan’s journey from a modest start to becoming a global media icon and influential philanthropist coincided with China’s dynamic transformation over the years. Both topics were her focus at the meet-and-greet book event. “I’m both a witness and a participant,” […]

Arts September 27, 2024 0

CineFest Founder Tackles Big Questions on Identity

by Harmony Witte

Sabrina Avilés founded Boston’s only currently operating Latino film festival, CineFest Latino Boston, in 2021, during a time of personal crisis. “I was in a kind of a very pivotal moment in my life at that point, and my father was very ill and close to dying,” Avilés, executive director of CineFest Latino Boston, told the Sampan recently. “And so it just made me reflect about a lot of things. When something like that happens, you just reflect about, you […]

Education September 27, 2024 0

Chinatown Celebrates Opening of New Upper School after Decades of Using Aging Buildings

by DongDong Yang

Josiah Quincy Upper School Head Richard K. Chang, and Chinatown community members and city officials on Sept. 12 celebrated the ribbon cutting of the new Josiah Quincy Upper School in Chinatown. The school, serving grades 6-12, opened for the 2024-2025 school year with modern facilities including a media center, fitness center, and band rooms, all aimed at helping the Boston students reach their full potential. The $223.6 million project was jointly funded by the City of Boston and the Massachusetts […]

Immigration September 27, 2024 0

How Political Banter, Local Law Enforcement Forever Changed the Lives of the Danbury 11

by Ryan Lundgren

As immigration has become an even more heated debate issue over the past year or so, especially with the immigrant housing crisis and hateful political rhetoric coming from public officials, Sampan took a look back at an event that rocked the hometown of our reporter, Ryan Lundgren, 18 years ago this month. It involved immigrants without their proper paper work, men just trying to get by for their families, and a set up by local law authorities to have them […]

Immigration September 27, 2024 0

EDITORIAL: The Lasting Hurt of Hate

by Editorial Team

The images are shocking, but are they really all that shocking by “today’s standards”? In one propaganda poster, a cartoon depicting a Japanese person’s face is getting punched by a muscled up “American” laborer. The words above the drawing: “Don’t save his face! Every blow counts in the battle for production.” In another cartoon, a Japanese person is depicted as a rat – the most despised of all animals – crawling into a trap that reads, “Army, Navy, Civilian.”And one, […]

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