Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month

April 8, 2022

Dear friends,

For the second year in a row, we will be celebrating the Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities during the month of April. As many of you may know, the United States has designated the month of May as a time to recognize and celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. However, since much of the month of May falls during our summer break, we have again decided to celebrate one month early in April when the majority of Andrews University students and employees are still able to join in the events and activities.

As we prepare to celebrate this Heritage Month, the Office of University Culture & Inclusion would like to thank all of the student leaders of our AANHPI student clubs and organizations as they have worked together over the last several months to put this celebration together. These kinds of moments, and celebrations like these, are not possible without this hard work and innovative creativity by our Andrews students.

The celebration will begin this Friday evening, April 8, as we kick off “AUnited Weekend” which is a collaborative effort put on by a number of campus partners, including the Division of Marketing & Enrollment Management, Office of University Culture & Inclusion, Center for Faith Engagement and Office of Student Involvement, Leadership & Activities as well as a variety of student clubs and organizations. The schedule for the weekend is as follows:

April 8: AUnited Infusion Vespers
Pioneer Memorial Church, 7:45 p.m.

April 9: AUnited Fashion Show
Johnson Gym, 8 p.m.

April 10: AUnited Culture Fest
Johnson Gym, 8 p.m.

Other Andrews University events throughout the month of April are as follows:

April 9: South Pacific Islander Sabbath
University Towers Chapel, 11:30 a.m.

April 15: Balikbayan—Filipino Cultural Night
Andrews Academy, 3:30 p.m.

April 16: Andrews Indonesian Club Sabbath
Hartford Indonesian Adventist Church, 10:30 a.m.

April 22: AANHPI Proximity Vespers
Howard Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m.

April 23: South Asian Student Association (SASA) Cultural Night
Newbold Auditorium (Buller Hall), 7 p.m.

April 24: Korean American Student Association (KASA) Seoul Nights Banquet
The Brick, South Bend, Indiana, 6 p.m.

April 25: Asian Cuisine Tasting
Beijing Room (Andreasen Center for Wellness), 2:30 p.m.

April 30: Samoan Sabbath
Biology Amphitheater, Price Hall (Science Complex), 11:30 a.m.

As we look forward to this month of celebration, reflection and understanding, I want to specifically thank each one of you in the AANHPI communities for taking the time and effort to invite our entire Andrews community into your cultural spaces so that we can better understand, celebrate and appreciate who you are and what you experience on an everyday basis.

Once again, I invite you all to join us whenever you can over the course of the next few weeks as we take the time together to intentionally celebrate and fully honor the AANHPI members of our community.

Grace and peace,

Michael Nixon
Vice President for University Culture & Inclusion