Due to students’ interest in foreign culture, junior Stefani Peck and senior GeeHyun Park, founded Club Asia, a group that offers new experiences through an oriental environment. Many students with foreign, Asian backgrounds contribute to the framework of the club, which creates a more diverse atmosphere.
At the moment, Club Asia stands as an open club and invites anyone, regardless of their nationality.
During the first Club Asia meeting, the group brainstormed ideas for the club’s future schedule. The following week, the club appointed officers and planned exotic food and movies for their next gathering. Although two sessions have already taken place, Club Asia encourages any other students to join.
As the group’s vice-president, Peck states that Club Asia fulfills student’s interests for Asian culture, while involving them in entertaining activities.
“The purpose of Club Asia is to bring students who are interested in learning more about various Asian cultures together through fun experiences such as trying food, playing games or learning random phrases from different Asian languages,” Peck said.
In addition, Peck claims the club sparks interest in the learning factor when discussing Asian culture.
“The Asian culture is definitely a unique thing and we will try our best to make sure we uncover many interesting aspects of it, while making sure the members have an awesome time,” Peck said.
According to Park, Club Asia is an opportunity to learn about the backgrounds of the various students at FC.
“We are hoping for a culture exchange with students in the campus as they learn and understand the Asian culture,” Park said. “We are going to explore the culture and we might have Asian food, watch movies and other stuff.”
Club supervisor Michael Ogdon says Club Asia gives students a chance to learn something beyond the American culture.
“I absolutely think Americans can benefit too, I’m already seeing some,” Ogdon said. “Having lived in the Philippines myself, I’ve been in a couple different cultures, and I was the outsider. While there, it’s kind of fun to eat new things and stuff like that. The more we share the more we can experience, it’s an expression of the school motto.”
Sophomore Amanda Menes says she joined Club Asia due to an interest of the Asian activities it offers.
“It seems like it’s going to be really fun — the stuff we’re going to do like watching Asian movies and finding about Asian culture,” Menes said. “Also, to learn and get to know about other people and their backgrounds sounds interesting.”
Similar to Menes, sophomore Robbie Hill claims that he is excited about the furthering his knowledge of the Asian culture. After taking Chinese as a foreign language class, Hill developed an interest towards different cultures.
“I’ve been in Chinese class and it’s a really fun class; it’s like my favorite thing,” Hill said. “I wanted to learn about more cultures instead of just Chinese, like Korean and Japanese and a bunch of other stuff. I look foward to Asian food, and fun things like going on field trips to places and it would be cool to look at Asian places.”
Junior Lynn Kim says she joined to share her experiences as a foreign exchange student.
“I joined Asian Club to share my Asian background,” Kim said. “It’s very different from here and I think it will also be fun.”
Ogdon also declares that both American and foreign students benefit from the club.
“I like the possibility that it can help individuals to connect to a culture they are not a part of,” Ogdon said. “Even here in America, some kids are coming here directly form other countries and they don’t even know how to speak English at all. So their Asian experience is now colored by fear, timidness, and other things; we’re just trying to lock in as quick as they can.”
Club Asia meets on campus for lunch every Monday in Room 604. The next meeting will occur on Jan. 9.
For more information on campus clubs, read the Nov. 1 article, Brother to Brother returns to link classes.
