Asian Society Banquet Sends Off Seniors With Speeches and Farewells
By Leo Wan ’28
On May 28, Asian Society (AS) held its annual Senior Banquet in Straus Library from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The banquet brought together pan-Asian-identifying students to celebrate graduating seniors. As students entered Straus, the room already bore the marks of hours of preparation: tables decorated with flowers and candles, dishes filled with the evening’s food, and seats set for approximately 90 attendees. By 4:00 p.m., hours before the dinner began, most of the AS board and faculty advisors—Ms. Nicole Darling, Hubert Hwang, and Mr. Xiaolu Shi— had already arrived in Straus to run through logistics and prepare for the evening. The board members set up the balcony with lanterns along the railings, tablecloths on each table, lilies, candles, and the food and drinks as they arrived. AS Board Member Benjamin Wang ’27 shared that AS ordered food from multiple Asian vendors, including Taipei Cuisine and BBQ Chicken, as AS “aimed to include Chinese, Korean, Thai, and other Asian cuisines.” While many students enjoyed the food, Rohan Shah ’26 felt the spread did not fully encapsulate Asian cuisine’s diversity, noting that “there [was] no Indian or… South Asian food,” a lack which he called “pretty unfortunate.”
The banquet culminated in senior speeches, delivered by underclassmen friends chosen by each senior, and ranged from sentimental reflections to comedic roasts. Amidst each speech, a baby photo and a quote from the senior are projected onto the screen. Charles He ’26 explained that the speeches surfaced memories he “hadn’t thought about in a while” and helped him see his Milton experience in a way he “wouldn’t have done” himself. Although Wang’s speech to He may have been “slightly exaggerated,” he nonetheless found it “inspiring” and compared it to “getting a mirror held up to four years of your life.”
For Sissi Ma ’26, the night’s memorable moment came from an unexpected change in the speech-giving. “Originally, [Skye Morishita ’28] was supposed to give me the speech,” Ma said, “but then it was a really nice surprise that [Megan Pang ’28] and [Newnew Zhang ’28] did a joint one for me impromptu.” Ma added that the surprise, along with the humor throughout the speeches, made the banquet “a very lighthearted, memorable experience.” Similarly, Shah, who chose Alex Ning ’27 to give his farewell speech, enjoyed the speech given to him and called it “a good blend of humor and care.”
Shah referred to another speech, for Tom Tang ’26, as his favorite moment of the night, especially his “seeing Dr. Callen’s face during the speech.” Tang was not present at the banquet, so a picture of him was placed on a chair during the speech. Preston Tsang ’27, who delivered the speech, joked about Tang’s absence from the community: “I never had first impressions of [Tang] freshman year because I never saw him once.” The speech continued with Tsang’s ending on a sincere note, thanking Tang for “being himself.”
From the audience, Lucas Xia ’28 saw the speeches as more than just senior farewells. Watching students speak passionately and emotionally, he felt “excitement, appreciation, and wholesomeness” as speakers addressed their “love [of] the seniors’ wisdom and good advice.” Xia was also moved by seeing the beautiful and diverse friendships between seniors and underclassmen. Nini Lu ’29 shared that while “the event was wonderful, it was very sad to think about the impending graduation and how the seniors won’t be around next year.”
Edward Qiu ’27, who photographed the event, experienced the banquet through his camera lens. While focusing on capturing students “when they’re hugging at the end,” he was happy that the banquet was “really well executed” because “everybody bonded.” Additionally, Qiu cautioned that future photographers “should adjust carefully to not fail to capture the best memories.”
After the speeches ended, the board put everything back in place and took out the trash, a process that took an hour. For Asian Society, the banquet closed the year with food, photos, and speeches. For the Class of 2026, it offered one more chance to be cherished and celebrated before graduation.