In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) this month of May we will be exploring the opportunities, leadership, and the community center for Asian-Americans here at Virginia Tech. This representation is needed because out of the 33,170 students at Virginia Tech, the Asian population is at less than 10% at about 8.8%.
The Center from Outside, it is located on the first floor of the Squires Student Center
It’s been 2 years since the Asian Cultural Engagement Center (ACEC) opened its doors. It is one of the cultural community centers here at Virginia Tech located in Squires. They offers a welcoming safe space for Asian-Americans and everyone who steps into its doors. Here you can find many beautiful cultural ornaments, books, and decorations. It is run by the Asian American Student Union (AASU). They are in charge of their 10 Asian cultural organizations who report to them.
*Red is a color very commonly used in Asian culture to signify good luck, power, royalty, and prosperity.*
The main poster of the Center, alongside the desk of AASU student workers
A part of the map of Asia, each pin represents the city from a student that walked through the Center since its creation
Students often use the center to study, specially now since it is finals week
A Maneki-neko (Golden cat) in the center, as the Chinese tradition stands, this ornament attracts people or money to where it is, in this case the ACEC
A Vishna, one of the most popular gods in Hinduism
A stone Buddha, as a lot of the Asian students praise this god, it couldn’t be missing
An anti-racism picture, one of the things that the center tries to promote
A Longwang dragon mask, a very popular Chinese symbol and mythology figure
A close up of the Chinese dragon
A Geisha poster, a cultural Japanese figure and costume
Zhe Shan , traditional Japanese flag: the handle of the fan symbolizes the start of a new life and the ribs stand for the road to good fortune and happiness
A Mahal Kita picture, it translates to I Love You in Tagalog, the national language from The Philippines, a country with a strong presence in the ACE Center
Wadaiko, a Japanese traditional drum
The Asian American Coalition is a social reform group here at Virginia Tech that strives to bring awareness to many issues that Asian Americans may be going through. Whether it is Asian American visibility at a PWI, defeating the model minority complex, and many more. The AAC achieved a huge milestone this past semester by having their own exhibit at Newman Library on the second floor. It covers everything from anti-blackness, xenophobia, Asian American sexualization in media, and so much more. This young dedicated group of Asian Americans put their blood, sweat, and tears into this beautifully crafted exhibit. It was interactive as well as students got to write down some of their thoughts of “what does being Asian American mean to you?”.
The exhibit by the Asian American Coalition located in Newman Library on the 2nd floor
Students can write in the Library exposition, most of them are anti-racism comments
Already being a minority group at a Predominately White Institution (PWI), Asian Americans find themselves feeling distant and lost but there are some events that happen that make us feel even more so unwelcomed. Particularly an instance that happened last Fall 2018 with the Cranwell International Center. Yes, you heard right, the center at Virginia Tech that is supposed to help international students. A center where most of the students who walk in are minorities. What happened was, they stole a photo from the Filipino American Student Association (FASA) and used it to promote their center without anyone’s permission. Then proceeded to post the flyers all over campus. This was quickly caught on, and caused an uproar on social media. My personal close friends were in this photo, and they told me it made them feel unwelcomed, and how dare a center who is supposed to help international students ASSUME that a group of young Asian Americans were international students based on the color of their skin and how they looked.
The Asian American Student Union (AASU) quickly responded on all their social media platforms to address this issue and give students some sort closure. Hopefully an instance like this will never happen again, this may have been a small “mistake” but left a damaging scar to the Asian American community.
Regardless, we move forward as an even stronger unit. We are proud to be Asian American Hokies!
Asian American Identity at Virginia Tech 