Celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month

Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity

Dear friends,

It is my pleasure to once again welcome you to our annual celebration of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities during the month of April—one month early.

As many of you may know, the United States has designated the month of May as a time to recognize and celebrate what has been historically called Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month when the month’s celebration began in the early 1990s (and as an Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week, first celebrated in 1979).

However, since much of the month of May falls during our summer break, we have once again decided to celebrate this heritage month one month early in April when the majority of our Andrews University students and employees are still on campus and can still 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 to put this celebration together. These kinds of moments, and celebrations like these, are not possible without the hard work and innovative creativity of our Andrews students.

The Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) has chosen the theme “Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity” for this May’s AANHPI Heritage Month Celebration. Our community continues to be better and stronger thanks to the contributions and leadership of our AANHPI employees and students all across our campus both now and throughout the history of our University. This is an amazing part of the enduring legacy of Andrews University.

It is also important to again note how imperfect the label AANHPI is at adequately capturing the diversity, complexity and beauty of all of the various cultures that the AANHPI acronym barely scratches the surface of encompassing.

A recent study captured some of this challenge well: “Asian Americans alone are the fastest growing minority population in the U.S., with Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) as the 3rd fastest growing minority population. Despite this growth, AANHPIs are often left out of data due to sample size limitations and reliability. The lack of data integrity fails to reflect the diversity of the populations and their needs.”

The term AANHPI “includes people with ancestry from the continent of Asia and the Pacific Islands from over 50 ethnicities, with over 100 languages and dialects. There are distinct differences across the Asian and the NHPI ethnicities.”

As a result, I recognize AANHPI is an inaccurate/insufficient overall description for our brothers and sisters who make up this beautiful and varied community. Our goal is to continue getting better each year at celebrating and honoring the history and continuing legacy of all the various people groups that all help make Andrews University what it is. Thank you to each one of you in advance for continuing to engage with us as we continue on this journey and we work collectively to push things forward and more deeply each year.

Here are some of the highlights and events coming up this month:

The Andrews Korean SDA Church, Living Springs Fellowship, and Michiana Fil-Am SDA Church will have church services throughout the month.

• Andrews Korean SDA Church/Living Springs Fellowship, 8691 US Hwy 31, Berrien Springs MI 49103-9532
• Michiana Fil-Am SDA Church, 8454 Kephart Ln, Berrien Springs MI 49103

APRIL 1
Chinese Christian Fellowship Worship, Garber Auditorium, Chan Shun Hall

• Service begins at 11:30 a.m., Pastor Yang
• Chinese 30-dish banquet at 12:45 p.m., Whirlpool Room

APRIL 8
Mu-en Adventist Chinese Fellowship, Biology Amphitheater, Science Complex

• Service begins at 11:30 a.m.
• Potluck following

KASA Banquet, Section House, 5896 Sawyer Rd, Sawyer MI 49125

• Fellowship dinner begins at 6:30 p.m.
• Banquet activities begin at 8:30 p.m.

APRIL 15

• SASA Sabbath, 11 a.m., Ruth Murdoch Elementary School
• SASA Culture Night, 8 p.m., Newbold Auditorium

APRIL 22
Mu-en Adventist Chinese Fellowship, Biology Amphitheater, Science Complex

• Service begins at 11:30 a.m.

APRIL 29
Samoan Sabbath, Biology Amphitheater, Science Complex

• Sabbath School begins at 10 a.m. following the main service
• Social gym night/fundraiser at 7:30 p.m., Village School Gym

As we look forward to this month of celebration, reflection and understanding, I want to directly and specifically thank each one of you in the AANHPI communities for taking the time and effort to continue to invite our entire Andrews community into your cultural spaces and to engage with those of us beyond your community so that we can all better understand, celebrate and appreciate who you are, and including 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 as an Andrews University family to intentionally celebrate and more fully honor each AANHPI member of our community.

Grace and peace,

Michael Nixon
Vice President for University Culture & Inclusion