How have you been handling the challenges of college so far? What’s the most challenging part about being a freshman now during COVID or regardless of COVID?
It hasn't really changed that much to be honest. I was an overachiever in high school so I took a bunch of college classes and was really busy and I honestly kind of feel like college has less homework, like less things to do. I do think I'm actually less of a procrastinator, like I just tend to stay more on top of my schoolwork and stuff like that more than I did in high school. I mean, I would say the only tough part is that everything I do that is social, I have to plan ahead. So it's like, oh, I'm going to do dinner with this person like tomorrow evening, instead of it just being like randomly meeting up and hanging out because you run into someone. So, that can come to kind of feel overwhelming just because my schedule is so full all the time.
What have been your favorite things about Andrews so far?
Probably the diversity. Going around and seeing lots of different people that look really different and have different experiences is nice. I've been meeting new people and making new friends from different places.
What are you studying, and what are your career plans?
My major is business administration, at the moment. I will add a minor or double major in media and communications, or communications. I'm going to be a film producer.
What are some of your hobbies?
I don't really have a lot of hobbies. I like modeling; I've been doing a lot of that. I enjoy screenwriting or writing scripts. I don't really have that much free time, so I usually end up just watching Netflix movies or stuff like that.
What is your involvement in SASA (the Southern Asian Student Association) and why did you decide to join it?
I am the SASA secretary. I actually heard about SASA before I came and it was something that I knew I wanted to be part of because my mom is Indian. Growing up, I did go to school with some other Indian people and my mom had some Indian friends, but in high school, me and my brother and another girl were the only Indians in the whole school so we didn't really have a big Indian community. So I was excited to finally get that cultural experience here. I knew I wanted to be part of SASA and then I got lucky because one of the officers DM’d me and was like “Hey do you want to be an officer?” and I was like, “100% yes”.
What was your involvement in the AAPI event that recently happened on campus? What was it supposed to bring awareness to? How did you influence and become a part of that?
I think one of the interesting things about the pandemic is that things that have been going on for years are starting to come to light and people are paying attention to it. Because Asian American hate has been a problem for years, it's not something that all of a sudden just started, but finally people are paying attention to it. So basically several clubs organized a panel where people talked about their Asian-American experience. The President of SASA, Steven, asked me if I wanted to sit on it with him and I was happy to. And we didn't really know what it was going to be, we were like, “okay, I guess we'll just share our experiences” and it kind of ended up being this sort of storytelling space where we read stories that people had submitted, and there was an open mic where others could share stories live. Some of the people that were sitting on the panel shared their own stories, so basically there were two people from SASA, two Korean students, two students from the Indonesian club (ASIS, Andrews Society of Indonesian Students), and one from the Filipino club (AFIA, Andrews Filipino International Association ). I was really excited to get the opportunity to be honest about my experiences. I mean being biracial can mean that sometimes I don't always feel super Indian, and so it was nice to know that people wanted to hear my perspective and my experience at the end, even though sometimes I've been told that I'm just white and my Indian experience has been negated at times, so it's really nice to have that be recognized. So yeah, basically it was really nice to finally feel heard, I guess, because I think racism against Asian Americans is so normalized. Just kind of all the little comments and all the nicknames and the ways we’re portrayed in the media, it's just seen as something that's not really a problem. And so it was really nice to be able to talk about that, and people were able to talk about how they felt that Asian American problems aren't taken seriously on the campus. They were able to bring to light a lot of issues.
What would you like to say to all students of Andrews about stopping AAPI hate? What do you think is important for other minorities and also white people to do during this time to support?
I think it's really important to, first of all, not make racial jokes. It's not really funny to anyone in fact. I read this quote during the events that I read earlier in an article from Variety. Someone was talking about comedians that make jokes about Asian food and stuff, and said, “The insane racist vitriol made it all too clear that such comedy about Asian accents, food and mannerisms aren't rooted in people wanting to laugh, but wanting to assert dominance over cultures they find ridiculous.” I keep updated on Variety and so I read that quote and thought it was really nice to finally feel understood. It always felt like if you get mad about those kinds of jokes, you're just sensitive, you know, and it was nice to feel like these jokes aren't funny. You're just mocking my culture for no reason. And so I would definitely say like first of all racist jokes are not funny. No matter who's saying them. Second of all, I would say the tough part for Asian Americans, and this was something that came through in the event, is that our cultures tend to teach us to go with the flow. Like, don't make noise. I mean immigrant culture is very much focused on the idea that we just need to assimilate; if people give you trouble just move on, and I think that now especially that we're seeing people being shot and killed and people being attacked we can't be quiet and we can't just take the hate. So, I think it's important to create those kinds of safe spaces for your Asian American friends. Invite them to share because they probably won't. Otherwise they're just going to say it's not a big deal, you know, who cares if nobody can pronounce my name right but those things are really important and so I think it's important to remind your Asian American friends that they deserve respect just as much as any other culture deserves respect.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.