Students and faculty are working to spread awareness about this year’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, which will kick off April 1 and facilitate more collaboration between Asian Pacific American organizations. This year’s APAHM theme is “Discovering Connections, Rising Together,” which planners said defines the month’s “identity” and encourages the organizations involved to promote each other and attend more than just their own events.
“The goal for this year is for the whole month to be a memorable event, not just single individual programs,” said Jude Paul Dizon, coordinator for Asian Pacific American Student Involvement and Advocacy.
Anticipated events for APAHM include the popular Taiwanese American Student Association’s Night Market and the Japanese American Student Association’s Taste of Japan, which will both incorporate other APA organizations. Dizon said that around 400 people are expected to show up for Taste of Japan.
“We are planning to draw other organizations to our event by attending their events in return,” JASA President May Wildman said. “We will probably also reach out to other organizations by sending them our flyer for Taste of Japan and asking them to advertise for us if they can.”
Wildman said that she personally plans on attending TASA’s Night Market, which is scheduled for April 19.
“We include other organizations to volunteer and perform in our event,” TASA Co-President Emily Young said. “We usually do make an effort to attend other organizations’ functions, and would love to know how to support their events.”
The Asian American Student Union’s Wiffleball Tournament is also expected to bring a large amount of students together, both inside and outside the APA community.
Zerina Borhan, graduate coordinator for Asian Pacific American Student Involvement and Advocacy, said that AASU’s tournament garners participation from many non-APA organizations and fundraises for a specific APA cause.
This year, APAHM also has a student planning body specifically for promotion and organization. The student marketing committee, a smaller branch of this body, said they are hopeful that this year’s APAHM will unite APA organizations as well as the rest of the campus.
“We have a committee dedicated specifically to planning APAHM for the first time, so we’re hoping to integrate the theme a lot better [than in past years],” said Chris Quach, a sophomore sociology major on the student marketing committee.
The marketing committee also plans on making Facebook groups for APAHM events, using Department of Transportation Services advertisements, producing T-shirts and spreading posters and flyers around campus to let students know what events are coming up.
University offices are also putting in time to make sure that APAHM is a memorable and united celebration of APA culture. The Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy will be organizing opening and closing events for the month. “We’re hoping this [planning] body will help to facilitate … more campus-wide engagement,” Dizon said.
