A club right here at UCCS has attracted attention from across Colorado for club meetings focused on pop culture and K-pop cup sleeve celebrations.
The Korean Student Association expresses their appreciation for every aspect of Korean culture in the community, both on campus and in other Colorado cities like Aurora. They are working to create connections with organizations and shops like Colorado K-Popper, a small business that hosts K-Pop events throughout Colorado.
The KSA meets every other Friday and is open to all students. They are having an end-of-the-year celebration on April 30 from 5-7 p.m. in Kettle Creek.
President and co-founder of the KSA Rae Warszawski believes that anyone who appreciates Korean culture can join, even if they are not Korean.
“I definitely think anybody interested in any aspect of Korean culture will like this club just because we do a little bit of anything with Korean culture. Whether it’s the popular music, the popular films or traditional stuff,” Warszawski explained.
The KSA mainly focuses on planning and executing events, and they specialize in hosting cup sleeve events at the Teapioca Tea Lounge.
Warszawski explained that the birthdays of K-pop band members, film release dates and album drops are commemorated in Korea through advertisements on drink cup sleeves. “People will come in and buy boba, and then come to us and get a cup sleeve for it and some little pictures and stickers and stuff,” Warszawski said.
This club was originally called the K-pop Student Alliance, but the name was changed as a result of the pandemic halting travel.
“We just wanted to be a traveling club to see K-pop in the U.S., but we realized we couldn’t really do much under the name K-pop Student Alliance, so we switched it. We broadened it up to Korean Student Association,” Warszawski said.
Even though they have shifted their focus, the members honor their original inspiration by continuing to attend BTS concerts as a group.
With this broadening came a larger online following. Warszawski said via email that the KSA has 26 members registered on Mountain Lion Connect and 546 followers on Facebook. One of their goals involves finding ways to get the attention of more UCCS students.
Warszawski believes that some of the rebranding they are doing and the future projects they are working on might spark more student interest in the KSA. Students can begin to look for these new and intriguing events next school year.
The KSA currently has an application open for some roles students can apply for within the club, if interested. One of them has been filled, but they still need public relations representative and an event coordinator.
The KSA’s website has more information on how students can join, attend events and support them. Students can follow their Instagram page as well to view any announcements they send out.