AASU, along with other Asian Pacific American organizations, held an APA Heritage Month kickoff festival at Hornbake Plaza on April 2 to celebrate APA culture on campus.
To celebrate national APAHM, Asian-nation.org suggested attending one of the many APA heritage festivals organized throughout the nation every year.
For the first time this year, students on campus organized their own festival. The kickoff festival featured information, art and performances showcasing many of the different APA groups.
Organizations that participated in the event included the Asian American Student Union, the Chinese Student Association, the Filipino Cultural Association, the Japanese American Student Association, the Korean Student Association, the Thai Student Association, the Vietnamese Student Association and several Greek organizations, including Kappa Phi Lamda, Phi Delta Sigma and Sigma Psi Zeta.
The festival featured different booths and tables that showcased each of the participating organizations. Games and various prizes were also offered throughout the event, including free tickets to APA Curtain Call, an AASU event at which the pop/rock band Tim Be Told will perform.
Several AASU member organizations also performed at the event. Each performance was a small showcase of a larger performance that the groups created.
Camden Lee, a University of Maryland junior and member of AASU, said he was looking forward to seeing the Japanese American Student Association’s performance the most.
In the 2006 United States Census, 14.9 million residents identified themselves as Asian or Asian in combination with another race.
At the university, Asian Americans currently make up only about 14.1 percent of the undergraduate population, compared to the 56.5 percent who identify as white, according to Collegeresults.org.
AASU organized this festival in part to showcase the different organizations and also to get more publicity and awareness about APA Heritage Month and APA issues, Lee said.
There are more than 30 other events taking place on campus over the next two months to celebrate APA Heritage Month, including a wiffleball tournament, an APA community networking event, a keynote speaker, APA Curtain Call and the AASU gala.
