All Roads Lead to the Union: Newsletter
Asian American Student Association
The Asian American Student Association (AASA) is a cultural student group here at the University of Utah dedicated to promoting Asian and Asian Americans culture through a variety of educational opportunities, awareness, and cultural appreciation. They strive to raise awareness for social and political issues affecting the Asian and Asian American communities as well as recognize and celebrate that community by creating a safe and welcoming space for all Asian and Asian American students in the Union and in the broader University of Utah campus community at large.
Every year, AASA hosts its Asian American High School Conference in the A. Ray Olpin University Union at the University of Utah. This year, the 2019 Asian American High School Conference was held on Thursday, February 28, 2019, empowering students to think critically about Asian and Asian American issues, current events, social justice, and self-identity through the theme, “Shaping Superheroes: Positive Change in Community.” This conference brings together Asian and Asian American high school students from across Utah, providing them with academic resources, scholarship opportunities, admission, major exploration, and opportunities to connect with faculty, staff, and students at the University of Utah. The conference hosted roughly 200 high school students and was such a huge success in terms of the workshop sessions and overall turnout.
AASA meets weekly every Friday at 2 pm in the Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building (SFEBB) Room 5160. To stay updated on information regarding their events, please feel free to join their mailing list by sending them your contact information to aasa.uofu@gmail.com. Paul Fisk currently serves as the advisor for the group, and he can be contacted at paul.fisk@utah.edu.
The Union strives to cultivate an environment that serves students by providing social, cultural, leadership, and co-curricular opportunities where students are inspired to reach their potential. By creating a community space for AASA to host their high school conferences annually, the Union complements the academic experience for many college-bound Asian and Asian American students to learn more about the University of Utah and the Union. For more information about AASA, or how to be involved with the student organization, please visit the University of Utah’s Asian American Student Association website.
Written by: Jose Morales Diaz