Members of Community Gather For Asian Dinner
The Asian Advisory Board (AAB) brought together individuals of Asian heritage for their annual Asian Dinner celebrating their traditions with each other through a variety of food and cultural performances.
Adviser of AAB and English Instructor Wei-Ling Woo expressed that the primary focus of the event was to unify the Asian, Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) groups on campus. “The dinner provides an opportunity for the AAPI student and adult community to gather over a meal and conversation,” she said.
The dinner occurs during winter term and has randomly assigned seating to encourage students to meet new people. Many students appreciated the board’s effort to unite different groups of Exonians. “I think it was good that there were assigned seats so that you can get to know people that you might not have known in the Asian community,” said lower Isa Matsubayashi.
The organizers also emphasized diversity, reaching out to student groups from all over Asia in order to have accurate representation. According to senior Adrian Venzon, the word “Asian” is often associated with the image of a person of East Asian descent. “It's easy to get wrapped up in the East Asian side of Asian culture,” Venzon said. “This year, however, we tried to bring more Southeast Asian food and South Asian food.”
The preparation for this event was a long process that required intensive research. The student organizers reached out to various restaurants, collected information on portions and pricing and spoke to other students and adults throughout various meetings. Upper Ayush Noori commended the board for their organized execution of the event. “I think AAB did an extraordinary job in pulling off an event of this magnitude,” he said.
The event was also accompanied by several performances organized by Asian-identifying students. “Seeing all of the AAPI community’s specific skills showed me how talented we really are…[the performances] were one of my favorite parts of the dinner,” said senior Abby Zhang.
Students portrayed the many different styles of Asian dance, from upper Kelly Mi’s performance of a traditional Chinese dance influenced by classical ballet to upper Nikita Thummala’s Bollywood dance. Beat of Asia, Exeter’s Asian music hip hop Dance group, presented choreography to the song “Thanks” by K-pop group Seventeen. Uppers Jasmine Liao, Summer Hua and prep Grace Ding, meanwhile, were inspired to sing Yellow by Coldplay in both Mandarin and English after the song’s appearance in the film Crazy Rich Asians.
Attendees of the dinner lauded it as a well-planned bonding event. “I think that we always have work to do, but I also know there are students engaging in that work and making progress,” Noori said. “We must ensure that we can continue to create avenues for dialogue, spaces for representation and opportunities for cultural celebration.”
Venzon, meanwhile, spoke to why Asian Dinner had special meaning to him: “I never really felt that there were a lot of other Asian students on campus because, while we are the largest minority on campus, you still don't see each other at the same time at the same place … When you see that, you feel like you really belong.”