There's something special about a program that can bring about cultural-specific dialogue in a free-discussion form. JASC is one of these programs, as is APALI. I graduated from the Asian Pacific American Leadership Initiative last night, and I'm fairly nostalgic already of the conversations and challenges that the program provided--it was my refuge when suffering from JASC-withdrawal. I'm not sure how many other schools have this type of program, but basically it's an experiential program that was developed to meet the needs of the APA community. About 16 rising APA leaders are chosen each semester to participate in the program, throughout which the members explore their APA identity, experience the complexities and struggles of balance within the APA community, and learn about leadership through a multicultural lens. The program is about embracing your Asian American heritage and becoming leaders of change.
Penn has a lot of Asians--a lot of international students, a lot of Asian Americans, a lot of exchange students. I think the brochure said 18% Asian? I was pretty surprised to see such masses of Asians, since my hometown is not exactly culturally diverse. Sadly, a lot of the Asian groups tend to stick together, and the campus is quickly divided into cliques. It can be hard to approach people and strike a conversation sometimes--but integrational programs like APALI give you a push and helps create a sense of community. East Asians, South Asians, immigrant generation, 3rd + generation; everyone gets together to discuss APA issues and share their thoughts. A pan-Asian sentiment is difficult to harbor because there are so many groups under "Asian," but issues like the Virginia Tech shooting and the Obama campaign are relevant to all minorities, and it's integral to hear every single voices, no matter how quiet.
I definitely learned a lot about myself from APALI, and about minority relations, and about being American. Every environment provides a unique perspective and APALI was a great eye-opener and door-opener (to the Penn APA community). Something needs to get the dialogue started, get people thinking, challenge people to change, and the program did that for the 16 of us. I never expected to get an experience like this out of an east coast (what some would consider "preppy") school, and it's probably been the most relevant, practical and experiential learning that I've had at Penn.
Okay, it probably seems weird to be writing about APALI on the JASC blog, but really, what I learned there and the resources I gained from it are very applicable to my RT (minority issues!). It's almost like I was chosen to do APALI this particular semester in order to be better prepared for JASC next summer...and JASC 59 prepared me to engage in the cultural conversations I had during APALI; it's a continuous circle of cultural learning! what fun. and we all benefit from it in the end. :)
One thing that made APALI so great for me was that it reminded me so much of JASC, and helped me stay active in cultural activities. Anyway, the point here was that everyone should engage in some type of cultural dialogue, and keep asking questions and keep pushing each other. cultural student groups or programs on campus are a great place to start and serve as wonderful resources for those who want to get involved. of course, there is no other program that quite measures up with JASC, but they can try! and so can you.
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Kudos on participating in what sounds like a very worthy program!
On the whole, however, I am still somewhat ambivalent about cultural dialog. Some students at Harvard have petitioned the East Asian Studies Department to start an "Asian American" track. A small step toward cultural understanding or the introduction of academic incoherence into the EAS Department? We'll see how that goes.
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