Throughout April, the Asian Student Union will host a series of events beginning April 1 to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a range of events for students. The national APAHM takes place in May, but the organization chooses to host its events on Grounds during April so more students will be able to attend and they can celebrate throughout the entire month.
The APAHM celebration occurs in April of every year, and ASU also hosts a week-long heritage celebration in the fall each year. According to Aileen Zhang, second-year College and Commerce student and APAHM co-chair, the fall celebration is planned by mostly the two co-chairs alone, while the April event is done by their entire committee.
The APAHM committee is made up of six members who each get to create their own event for the celebration. According to Zhang, she and APAHM co-director and second-year College student Valerie Young help guide and shape the visions of their committee members.
“These events revolve around their [the committee members] identity as Asian Americans, and we [Young and Zhang] encouraged them to explore topics that they could try to educate people on!” Young said in an email to The Cavalier Daily. “We're really excited for our theme this year, Subtle Asian Heritage — we'll be able to talk about our heritage as well as Asian American millennial culture.”
This year’s theme, Subtle Asian Heritage, relates to the event’s main goal of allowing students to have a forum to celebrate their Asian culture. According to Zhang, the event has other focuses as well, including increasing activism in the Asian American community.
“Our goal is to spread awareness and to start discussions within the Charlottesville community about APIDA [Asian Pacific Islander Desi American] issues, current events, and other topics!” Young said. “Mainly we are hoping to draw out people from all parts of the community and to encourage everyone to celebrate APAHM with us.”
This year’s APAHM consists of 11 events spread out throughout the month, ranging from finals care packages consisting of Asian snacks, such as Pocky Sticks, Hi-Chew and rice crackers, at the Whispering Wall to releasing lanterns on the Lawn — which has been “a part of Asian culture for two thousand years.” The programs were funded by Student Council, Multicultural Student Services and independent funds from ASU. Each catered event can cost up to $200, but any event with no food or just snacks costs less than $100.
The month’s kickoff event was the LGBTQ Speaker Panel, which took place April 1. The event was sponsored by the LGBTQ Center and Third Year Council and provided a safe space for students to ask members of both the LGBTQ+ and Asian American communities about their experiences.
The marketing for the APAHM celebration is done by a separate marketing committee. The committee utilizes Facebook as their main marketing strategy for the celebration. According to Zhang, how well an event is promoted directly correlates to how many students attend, and especially how many students outside ASU attend.
Zhang expects about 20 to 40 attendees at each event from a variety of backgrounds. A large amount of their attendees are part of ASU or other multicultural organizations, but it is not a limiting factor for the events.
“A lot of people might have struggled with defining their identity and finding their place on-Grounds, so I feel like this is a great opportunity to not only participate in the conversation about your background and your identity but also celebrate your heritage and where you come from,” Zhang said.
This article previously misspelled the name of second-year College and Commerce student and APAHM co-chair Aileen Zhang as "Aileen Zheng." The article has been changed to reflect the accurate spelling of their name.
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