We are proud to offer numerous Special Events at Iskwelahang Pilipino! Special Events that we host include: Anniversary Shows, Career Day, Celebrity Series, College Day, Graduation, Tea Musicale and Tiangge. We also participate in events hosted by other organizations, such as the our food booth at the Lowell Folk Festival and performing NEFFA’s Annual Festival.
Anniversary Shows
Students preparing to perform before our 10th Anniversary Show.
IP Anniversary shows take place every five years and provide students the opportunity to participate in a full production at least once during their enrollment in IP. IP’s tradition of celebrating five-year milestones with an extravaganza of Pilipino cultural presentation has produced the following:
- 1986: 10th anniversary – “Pista sa Nayon”
- 1991: 15th anniversary – “Binhi at Sibol”
- 1996: 20th anniversary – “Baro’t Sayaw”
- 2001: 25th anniversary – “Katuwaan!”
- 2006: 30th anniversary – “Tayo Na Sa Antipolo”
- 2011: 35th anniversary – “Hale Hale Hoy!”
- 2016: 40th anniversary – “#IP40”
- 2021: 45th anniversary – Unfortunately this Anniversary Show was postponed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Career Day
At Career Day, we invite parents and alumni from our community to speak to our students about their careers, responsibilities, and professional journeys. We aim to expose our students to the wide variety of jobs that they can pursue after they complete school and through this exposure, support and encourage them to follow their dreams! Through this event, we also help teach students the importance of networking. This event happens every other year, in rotation with College Day.
Celebrity Series
Celebrity Series is an annual event where well-known Filipinos in the working world are invited to speak to the students about their careers or the special work they do. They not only inspire the children with their life’s work, but also serve as role models for our community. Some of the celebrities were priests who work with indigenous tribes in the Philippines, newscasters, artists, doctors, chefs, authors, and illustrators of children’s books.
College Day
At College Day, we expose our students to the experiences of Filipino-Americans in college with the aim of helping them better understand the college life, benefits of enrolling in higher education, and overcome anxieties they may face when considering applying for schools. We invite our alumni and Filipino-American college students from local universities (such as Northeastern University, Boston University, University of Massachusetts – Boston) to share their experiences and answer college-related questions. This event happens every other year, in rotation with Career Day.
District One of the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue, Inc. (FIND, Inc.) has been a long-time collaborator with us to help supply college students to speak with our students during College Day. Many of our alumni – even from our first classes – have also gone on to participate in District One and FIND, Inc.’s other districts!
Graduation
Our 2012 Graduating Class - with their cake after the ceremony!
In 1987, we began celebrating our graduating seniors with a special ceremony. We host our annual Graduation Ceremony for our high school seniors in May as the last session of the school year. Our Graduation Ceremony is a school-wide event in which students from all of our class groups showcase what they learned during the year.
Graduating IP Seniors who meet requirements, primarily of consistent participation in IP, receive a graduation plague and Filipino stole to commemorate their graduation from our school age program. We also announce scholarships and awards to our graduating seniors at this event.
Lowell Folk Festival: Iskwelahang Pilipino Food Booth
The outside of our Lowell Folk Festival Food Booth!
The Lowell Folk Festival is the longest-running, and second-largest, free folk festival in the United States! At this annual festival, there are handicraft and artisan booths, folk dance and music presentations, and food booths from various ethnic groups. We have been participating in the Lowell Folk Festival since its first year, 1987, selling Filipino food to raise funds for our school activities!
IP’s annual pop-up food booth is a favorite among festival attendees, prides itself in attracting repeat customers and sharing Filipino cuisine with the larger community, and has been our largest annual fundraiser every year! Proceeds cover the majority of IP’s operating expenses and enable us to keep registration fees to a minimum. All IP parents and their children participate in this labor-intensive event in true “bayanihan” spirit. We are truly proud of this special event as it showcases Filipino cuisine to the larger community and has been highlighted in many local newspapers!
New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA)’s Annual Festival
NEFFA is a non-profit educational and cultural organization, incorporated under the General Laws of Massachusetts to encourage, sponsor, and preserve high standards of performance of the folk arts and traditions. NEFFA annually hosts a festival that is a presentation of many different ethnic groups in New England in the form of dance, cuisine and cultural exhibits held annually. IP participates in the NEFFA Festival by presenting folk dances reflecting a certain theme or region of the Philippines. We have been a proud part of NEFFA’s Festival since our inaugural year 1976.
Tea Musicale
Since 1978, IP has hosted an annual talent show – Tea Musicale! Planned and executed by our graduating seniors, Tea Musicale is a display of the talents and hobbies of our student body. From karate to karaoke, students are encouraged to share their interests with our community. This is truly a special event for the IP community as we get to learn more about our students through their own performances!
Tiangge
Founded in 2002, our Tiangge is an annual event for local vendors and organizations to share their goods and services with our community! Visiting vendors share food, goods, information, and services with attendees. Our students and Rondalla also perform during Tiangge! We are extremely proud to see our parents, students, and alumni also manage their own small business booths at Tiangge.
We have had vendors such as: Bagong Kulturang Pinoy (BKP), J-Mart Asian Food Store, Mango Tao, Pinoy Designs, and The Islander’s Creamery! If you are interested in becoming a vendor at our Tiangge, find more information here!