Pan Asian Heritage Society, or PAHS (“pass”), is a new addition to the Pitman Clubs starting this year! Founded by juniors Mia Frank, Vien Santiago, Madiha Haideri, Emi Yee, Jeannea Fhey Gonzales, Jade Xiong, Harleen Hundal, and Brooke Estolas, with Briana Padilla as the advisor, this club is made so that Asian students have a place to talk about their culture and traditions.
When talking about Asia, most commonly, one thinks of East Asia. But we forget that Asia is a continent that homes 48 different countries! As such, there is a wide variety of cultures and traditions across the continent, and to group all of Asia into just a couple of countries is flawed. Hence why PAHS exists. Where Asian students are free to share their culture and traditions! We empower each other and all of Asia here with a myriad of pending but fun activities throughout the school year!
Here is Padilla with her opinion on how the club will go, how she envisions the club and advise for the officers of this club: “The reason why I was very open for being advisor for [PAHS] is because it’s another way to be more inclusive on campus, it’s a club that is geared towards specific cultures and ethnicities and its another way to bring more unity and awareness in culture perspectives. I think the club is going to be great in bringing everybody together and it’s going to be a safe space for all types of people on campus. It’s just a cool way to get more knowledge out there; [the officers] went to San Jose [over summer to get snacks] and I think that food is one of the main reasons why people start to get to know a culture so it’s a great gateway into learning more about Asian cultures.”
She continued, “I love that the officers are doing this with an open mind and bringing it down to a very basic and common level where everyone can enjoy it and everyone can learn from it, not just people who are Asian or people in certain ethnic groups. I think that the officers are doing a fantastic job even without [my help]. The officers are very on it in terms of making sure the paperwork is done. Because the officers already have the motivation and are curious, they are doing just fine. But we will [inevitably] run into things we don’t know how to handle, we[‘ll] just work together. As we get used to how this club works, I am sure it’ll get easier.”
Frank: “PAHS is a student run club that teaches students about Asian culture and is a safe place for Asian students to feel comfortable within our community! I envision a club full of members with the pride and the strong will to stay active within our community, teaching those more about Asian heritage!!”
Estolas: “Asian people doing Asian things.” When asked to elaborate, she said, “There’s nothing to be against honestly, unless you’re racist.”
Next up is Santiago with an interview he gave on how PAHS came to be: “The idea of PAHS started with Asian racism not only in our country, but also in our area. And eventually the idea evolved into instead of advocating against racism, it could just be a place where we meet each other and learn about each other. Working with Dear Asian Youth (DAY), I have been trained to recognize all of Asia and [we] decided to call it Pan-Asia because pan means all. Our team of officers are very diverse and using that and the voices of our members, we will be able to advocate for and represent Asia.”
PAHS is a new club where we are open for any ideas and even more open for new members! It is a safe space for all those that need it, and an educational space for all those that are interested in learning all the cool and various cultures/traditions that Asia has to offer. It is a club with one goal: to unite all of Asia and to empower us. In Estolas’s words: “You don’t have to be Asian to join!”
PAHS recently had their first Asian Film Night! We watched 3 Idiots, which is a Bollywood movie, where they also sold delicious Asian snacks! For our first-ever event, this was a success and we look forward to more such events in the future! Be sure to stay tuned with us on our socials to get updated on future events!
Club meetings are twice every month; first Tuesday and third Thursday in Ms. Padilla’s classroom (B210)! Feel free to come by and say hello and find out what the club is about!
Google Classroom code: 3yfokyj
Remind code: @pahsclub1
IG: @pitmanpaheritage