LU One Hosts AAPIHM Showcase In Lahaye Event Space

LU ONE hosted the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM) Showcase in the LaHaye Event Space April 19. Several Student Government Association clubs took part in the event to honor the different Asian cultures, with the Hallyu Club, Chinese Culture Club, Barkada Club and the Japanese Culture and Anime Club also taking part in the special occasion. 

Last year, the AAPIHM Showcase garnered a crowd of around 320 people; but because the event landed on the weekend of Good Friday and Easter this time around, the numbers were expected to be a little different than previous years according to Mattaniah Wilson, president of the Chinese Culture Club. 

Wilson said the date of the event is typically scheduled as close to May as possible. 

“AAPI Heritage month is in May, and the closest you can get to celebrating that in our school is celebrating in April, so that’s why we’re doing it in April,” Wilson said. “We had a club that wanted to do a performance, the Filipino club (Barkada Club) wanted to do their Tinikling Dance, and we ended up making it like a showcase for multiple of the Asian clubs.” 

Booths were set up with food, information on the cultures and music. Dance performances, games and workshops were also provided during the event. The Hallyu Club performed K-POP dance choreographies while the Chinese Culture Club performed a fan dance, and the Barkada Club performed a Tinikling performance and workshop.  

Sophomore Enzo Vozzolo, member of the Japanese Culture and Anime Club, said the AAPI Heritage Month showcase is a significant opportunity to educate others on the cultural background of Japan. 

“We mostly go over Japanese culture every two weeks or throughout the month and cover either niche topics … folklore, gaming, music, anything that’s spiraled out of Japan,” Enzo said. “I’m hoping to trick more people into this club so we’re more prominent and more people can come and spend time with us and learn about it and also enjoy themselves.” 

Freshman Hannah Reyes, member of the Barkada Club, shared about the organization and its focus on the culture of the Philippines. 

“Our club (the Barkada Club) is spearheading the event right now because the event that we are doing is kind of the bigger parts of what we do here, which is the dancing between poles and stuff (Tinikling Dance),” Reyes said. “The importance is more of just bringing awareness to different cultures, Asian cultures specifically, like if you want to see the Chinese club or …  the Korean club or the Filippino club, it’s just to show our culture.” 

Attendees enjoyed the music, food and the activities available during the event, including a game where attendees tried to move pieces of candies into a bowl using only chopsticks. 

Simpson is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion.