Asian Culture club celebrates Chinese New Year
Some of us run away from our culture, some of us are ignorant of our culture and some of us throw chow mein parties. Every other week, the Asian Culture Club meets to promote their culture with food and games.
On Feb. 6, the club invited students to celebrate the Chinese New Year with free chow mein and rice for anyone who came to the meeting.
The event started off with a presentation, including an informational video about the significance of the lunar calendar and announcements of upcoming events, such as the annual Civic Arts Plaza Chinese New Year performance.
After weeks of planning, Tiffany Hsu, junior and president, was thrilled by the outcome of the event: “The meeting was very successful. Our club had great energy all throughout the meeting and had a fun celebration,” Hsu said. “The turnout at the event was amazing with over 60 people showing up. Lots of members of the club — old and new — joined our celebration of the new year.”
Nikki Usares, junior and vice president, plans to build off of the success they had and hold more events to celebrate the new year. “We plan on volunteering at Chinese events at the Civic Arts Plaza because there’s going to be a lot in the coming weeks where we can help.”
The club was founded by several students in the Chinese language program, including Stephen Liu, junior, after they realized that there were currently no clubs that represented what they were looking for.
“What we want to do in this club is to acknowledge and promote the many aspects and quirks of Asian culture in our school, as the name implies. We want to bring together as many people as possible in a culturally rich environment,” Liu said.
The club is certainly not exclusive to the Asian community either. Of the 25 regular members in the club, there are several who aren’t Asian, including a Hispanic board member.
“If you think the club is exclusive to only Asians, you misunderstand our message and our goals. Yes, while our focus is primarily Asian, we encourage people of all races, nationalities and ethnicities to come by and celebrate the culture with us. If you want to join the club, you’re always welcome to,” Liu said.
For updates and additional information regarding the club, visit their instagram @npacc2019.
“To any student not in Asian Culture Club and is curious to learn about Asian culture or eat yummy foods, come.” Hsu said. “You won’t regret it.”
