Asian Culture Club

Asian food. Asian holidays. Asian pop-culture. Acrew, organized by three sophomores, was added to the growing list of activities available at J-DHS in early October 2010.

But what prompted the creation of such a unique club?

Co-creator and vice president of the club, sophomore Molly Lenehan, said she was inspired by other culturally-oriented groups. Lenehan said that the realization of just how large the Asian-American community was in J-DHS provoked her interest in expanding the awareness of Asian customs throughout the school.

"I think that [Asian-Americans] should get to celebrate being part of such a fascinating culture," said Lenehan. "And for the people who haven't been exposed at all to real culture, Asian or not, there should be an opportunity to broaden their horizons."

While the idea sounded interesting enough, organizing the club itself and getting the word out was no easy feat.

"In order to get the club running, we had to do a lot of planning," said co-creator and co-president of the club, sophomore Claudia Lee. "We had to figure out how many people would actually be interested in joining the club, what day we would meet and how often."

After getting a rough outline of their plans, Lee said she and her two fellow co-creators, Lenehan and sophomore Lisa Zheng, went to Principal Paul Gasparini to present the idea for Acrew.

"He had me answer a few questions on a piece of paper and then return it to him," said Lee. Lee said that the questions had to do with naming officers, finding a room for meetings and which teacher was going to become their club advisor (Mrs. Wood).

Getting the club approved was relatively easy. One of the more difficult parts in developing the club was finding a solid purpose and defining the goals of Acrew.

However, Lee says that their club "hopes to spread Asian culture in J-D and break down some of the common stereotypes of Asians," said Lee. "Each year we'd like to have a major project and this year, we're hoping to raise money to help an orphan in China get an education."

So far, no specific plans for fundraising having been presented, but club advisors said that the group continues to brainstorm.

Another problem that all new clubs face is the difficulty in recruiting members. Currently, Acrew is a smaller club with around 6 members consisting of mostly sophomore-girls, with a few juniors.

Both sophomore and secretary of Acrew Hannae Lee and Lenehan agree that one of the club's main struggle is maintaining interest and getting members to commit to Acrew. Hannae hopes to overcome this difficulty by showing how great the club is through future events and planning.

"We want the club to be a well- known and worthwhile club," said sophomore Lee. "We want to make more announcements and have more events of interest to bring people into the club."

"Maybe just some free food to get people to come," said Lenehan jokingly. "I think we need to try a different approach to getting the word out by first starting a public fundraiser."

Like a majority of the officers and members, Hannae wants to get the club through the rocky transitional period and into a regulated and organized club that will appeal to a wide variety of J-DHS students.

Lenehan believes that once advertising for the club is properly organized, the rest of the club's organization will just "fall into place."

But Lenehan and Hanne aren't the only ones looking for ways to improve or further Acrew.

Treasurer and sophomore Holly Deng has some of her own goals for the club. Deng said she's hoping to see the club run more efficiently and hold more regular meetings. She also hopes to fundraise the money necessary to help resolve problems going on in Asian countries; for example, as Lee had mentioned, helping to find the necessary funds to support a child in an Asian country that might not have the opportunity for education otherwise.

"It'd also be nice to see the cafeteria un-ban lunch time food sales so we could actually sell Chinese food," said Deng, jokingly. "But with the goals that Acrew has, I think the club is definitely worth a shot; mostly because it's combining cultural awareness, delicious food and helping others in need all in one."

And Deng's not the only one showing a positive investment towards the club. The general feeling of excitement has been widespread in both the club's officers and members.

Sophomore and club member Laura Haarer is excited for what the future of Acrew might hold. Haarer said that although the club is still small it is growing in numbers, and the officers are friendly and informative, creating the perfect atmosphere for a tight-knit and successful club.

"The best part about the club is that it can either be super- organized and fun because we learn about different stuff," said Lenehan "but the meetings can also be really relaxed and we can just hang out and eat Asian food."

So why should you join Asian Culture Club?

"I think people should join Asian Culture Club because we'll not only have fun and learn stuff about Asian Culture, but we'll also be able to get the opportunity to help out people in Asia and in our community," said Lee.

While some may not find the idea of the club interesting to them, numerous J-DHS students are becoming interested in finding out more.

Sophomores Tom Hays and Lyndon Pisansky find the club interesting, especially for those of Asian ancestry, those who want to learn more details about the various Asian cultures, or even those who, according to Hays, "just like beef lo mein like me."

The club meets every other Thursday in room B24. All are welcomed.