Much has changed since the first time I filled out Trojan Check. I celebrated my 20th birthday and began having to cope with the reality of adulthood. I changed my major and minors maybe eight times (could be nine, I stopped counting). And of course, I joined APASA as an intern along with 13 other wonderful people whom I still stay in touch with today.
Read MoreThis year’s Night Market theme was “Plant Your Roots”. Yusuf, our Programming Director who led this event this year, wanted to open a space for the APIDA community to plant their roots in heritage and showcase their vibrancies on USC’s campus. It was also an opportunity for others to learn more about and grow closer to the array of cultures that color our local community.
Read MoreIt was a chilly Friday evening, but the Rosen Family Screening Room felt warm with a feeling of anticipation as it began to fill up with its audience for the night. Once everyone had gotten their chance to grab a delicious Beard Papa’s cream puff or a different snack of choice and settled into their seats, it was time to introduce the movie that we would be watching. Drum roll, please…it was Blinded by the Light!
Read MoreWe learned about the campaign itself, which focuses on preventing An Nguyen from being deported to Vietnam after serving his prison sentence in the United States. From the prison-to-deportation pipeline and what steps we can take as a community to prevent people like An from being separated from his family, the presentation also touched on why advocacy in general is important for people to participate in.
Read MoreWe finally started to put together our class of 14 remarkable individuals. After spamming their DMs with congratulatory messages, it was time for them to be initiated through the traditional APASA Santa Monica orientation.
Read MoreAs I stood by the doors to TCC forum, I realized just then what all the past summer was amounting to. This was the scene of CraftComp Social, APASA’s very first event of the 2022-2023 school year, taking place on August 26. It was also my first event as Programming Director, and I can’t pretend I wasn’t nervous.
CraftComp Social was born out of a desire to not just welcome students back to campus after a difficult two years, but to also share some of the beautiful diversity of the APIDA community. That’s why I settled on arts and crafts as the theme of the night—what better way to educate others and showcase our collective heritage through art that has existed for centuries?
Read MoreWe live in a divisive world where many communities experience relentless violence and oppression. We face racist, discriminatory taunts at our identity, sometimes disguised as microaggressions and jokes and, at worst, translated into violence.
Now, we claim #TheRighttoHeal.
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