Nov. 16, 2015
Rachel Librach
[email protected]
The Asian Pacific Islander Student Union will be leading students on an international tour, no plane ticket required.
APISU is hosting its eighth annual Raging Cultural Event on Nov. 19 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Berger Hall. The event will showcase six different Asian cities, allowing visitors to learn more about the respective cultures of those areas.
Thomas Huang, SGA senator of Multicultural Affairs and former president of APISU, said he believes this event gives students a greater sense of involvement, having learned about something new and different.
“We have received positive feedback from people from an Asian culture, whether they were born here and learned about it or whether they immigrated here and were able to see us trying to teach people about their culture. Both sides have been very happy about it,” Huang said.
Students will be able to visit each of the tables at the event and learn about the different cities’ cultural identities and what they are known for. An activity will be held at each table in correlation with their cultural significance.
Huang encouraged students to feel like they are traveling with their passport from city to city and learning about a variety of different cultures.
Once their passport is completed, students can turn it in and receive free lunch provided at the event by a local Chinese restaurant.
“It’s overall a great experience as a student to be able to attend these events and feel like you are much more involved,” Huang said.
Huang said it took a considerable amount of time and money to research cities, order food, organize the tables and find other clubs on campus that would be interested in helping out.
“We have spent around $1,400 to $1,800 and we have incorporated other groups such as the Indian Student Alliance who might be able to help us with hennas, and UCCS Radio, who will be taking care of all of our MP3 files,” he said.
Huang said students have been giving positive feedback, which has been the main motivation in hosting this event every year.
“We have received a lot of positive feedback and that’s how we have been able to confirm that we wanted to continue this event every year.”
He said the few negative comments from students are also just as valuable in determining how APISU will tailor future events.
“The negative feedback we have received has been very small, mostly concerning an underrepresentation of certain cultures. We have worked hard to adjust and fix that,” he said.
This year, on the back of the passports, there will be a short survey for students to fill out and leave additional comments about the event.
Information and details on R.A.C.E. can be found on Mountain Lion Connect under the UCCS student page.