Exploring the Far East from PA's Southwest
At W&J, there is a curious trend of clubs with slightly misleading names, and the Asian Student Association (ASA) is no exception. In truth, ASA is more of an appreciation society, with a reputation for philanthropy to boot. Despite the seemingly-exclusive name, anyone with an interest in Asian culture, events, entertainment, or food is encouraged to join ASA. At the end of the day, ASA is just about having fun with a far-eastern flavor.
The Club Mission
Founded in 2002 by Rei Yoshimura, the ASA's main goal is to raise the cultural awareness of those on campus by championing, organizing, and promoting Asian themed events and materials, from trips to Asian cultural festivals and art exhibits in Pittsburgh, to Chinese New Year celebrations right outside the Barista on campus. In its time at W&J, the ASA has garnered a reputation as a highly active and diverse association, letting members shape much of the club's agenda.
Goals of the ASA:
* To serve as an education organization that promotes awareness and understanding of Asian cultures through histories, language, politics, art, music, food, clothes, and other means which will aid in disseminations of the many Asian cultures
* To improve the relationship between Asian students and non-Asian students, faculty, staff, other organizations, and the community
* To promote support for Asian students with campus life and the community at large
Whether you're interested in 19th century Japanese woodblock prints, love eating kimchi, or just think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was an awesome movie, there's room for you in ASA to explore and expand on those interests. ASA's main goal is to expose members to a vast array of Asian cultures through off-campus trips and on-campus events, as well as foster a general sense of community and understanding amongst its members. They're usually pretty successful at both.
The Core of ASA
Considered one of the most active elective clubs on campus, the ASA's current form is largely the work of Kam Lam, a W&J alumnus who graduated in the spring of 2007. In her four years at the college, Lam was heavily involved in developing ASA's membership, event roster, and philanthropic catalogue with the help of Dr. Caffrey of the History Department and Dr. Gai of the Political Science Department. Under her, the organization took off, hosting everything from massive Chinese cuisine dinners to four-day New York City-bound road trips. The club became steeped in outreach as well, teaming up with the Newman Club, the Gay-Straight Alliance, and a number of other groups whenever a good cause would pop up. Lam's tenure culminated with the planting of a Japanese cherry blossom tree outside Lazear, as ASA left its first indelible mark on the campus landscape. Since then, it's been nothing but good news for the association, as the new generation of ASA's leaders have taken the helm.
The New Generation
As of 2007, the ASA's leadership has undergone a slight adjustment. The position of president as occupied by Kam Lam has been vacated, giving way to a two-person co-presidency shared by senior Ly Do and junior Sharon Shi. This became necessary when Sharon was accepted to study abroad in China for the Fall '07 semester — in her absence, Ly Do has picked up the slack and brought ASA into even further prominence.
The first meeting of ASA for the academic year saw a near-record number of first-time attendees, choking a good section of the campus Ski Lodge, and the retention rate for those members has been about 50% — which is a lot better than you might initially think. The Dragon Boat Festival was the first event hosted by the new club leadership, and turned out to be a rousing success, with 15-20 members of the club commandeering a campus van and heading out to Pittsburgh for a day of Asian food, performances, and workshops. The next event undertaken was a corn maze at the Simmons Farm in Murrysville — not much of an Asian event per say, but members will testify that it broke the ice just fine. The final event for the fall semester: A sushi-making party, enlisting the Japanese exchange students at W&J to lend some extra authenticity to the activity.
All in all, an impressive showing for the first-time officers of ASA's new regime.
A Moment in the Life of the President
Based on an interview conducted w/ Ly Do on 11/05/07.
I get off the phone with Emiko, one of the exchange students from Japan studying at W&J. She just spent the afternoon cooking two giant platters of okonomiyaki, and she'll be bringing them to tonight's ASA meeting. I ask her if she needs any help, but Chie already has it covered; they'll bring the food down to Monticello's at 8:00. By that time, we should be finished talking about everything else on the club agenda — mostly debriefing ASA members on the other activities we've done this semester.
In fact, this will be our last meeting of the year! By the time we hold another one, Sharon'll be back from her semester in China; she's the other ASA co-president, and I'll be happy to have her here to bring new ideas to the table for the spring. I can't relax just yet, though — our biggest event of the year is coming in just a couple of months. You might think that's a long time, but a trip to Washington D.C. takes a lot of planning! Especially with twenty or so members coming.
Now's not the time to worry about that, though — the meeting's in just a few hours, and we need to get all the club officers together beforehand. Dr. Caffrey will be there too — he's the natural choice for ASA adviser, being in charge of so many Asian history courses at W&J, and he always has useful input and suggestions for the club. Oh! I need to make sure Alex remembers to bring with him all the food and ingredients we bought last night — we're going to let the members make sushi rolls along with the okonomiyaki! It should be a lot of fun, and a great way to end the last meeting of the semester. Note to self: don't eat too much at the Commons tonight!
How To Get Involved
The simplest place to start if you're interested in ASA? Attend a meeting! They usually happen once a month and are completely open to the public. To find out when they are, subscribe to the ASA listserv on WashJeff's e-mail system. The keyword? "asa-l" - just plug that in and you're good to go. They also have a Facebook Groupfor keeping members up to date on club activities, and for the club historian to post photos/video from all ASA events. The listserv is more reliable for timely and convenient news updates, but the Facebook group will definitely give you a better idea of what the club is all about. So check out both!
External Links
Asian Student Association
