Celebrating Asian American Heritage Month with the Asian Student Union

Sabi Yoon

Asian Student Union (ASU) selling bubble tea at the front door entrance during lunch

The Asian Student Union (ASU) strived to finish off the school year strong by celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander (APPI) Heritage Month, which lasted the entire month of May. 

In past years, most AAPI celebrations organized by ASU consisted of potlucks and showcasing Asian-American movies.  However, this year, ASU students tried something new: a bubble, also known as “boba”, tea sale.  On May 22, ASU co-presidents, Mirabel Petersen and Justene Li, led a group of seven students to host Ballard’s first-ever bubble tea sale during lunch.  

“This was our first fundraising event after Covid and it’s also our first bubble tea sale. We had a really good outcome and a lot of people came,” co-president Mirabel Petersen said. “We raised about $200 and a lot of [7] people helped out. We hope to use this money for more events like this.”   

The sale featured four different flavors of bubble tea including mango, lychee, taro and milk tea. Toppings included the original regular brown sugar boba, also referred to as pearls, and other fruit jellies. Popular Asian candies and treats were also on sale including Hi-Chew, guava candy and fruit puddings.   

 “There were four flavors including mango, lychee, taro and milk tea. We also sold little treats like Asian jellies and candies,” co-president Justene Li said.  

The bubble tea sale was not only an opportunity for students to indulge in sweets, but also helped promote ASU and spread awareness about AAPI Heritage Month.   

“Our main goal was to have an event that would bring attention to AAPI month and raise money for future events. We want to use to money to go on field trips and supply for events like the Lunar New Year dumpling making,” Li said.  

 ASU already utilizes club presentations and discussions to spread AAPI awareness, but members strongly feel that this year’s AAPI month celebration was more enriching and recognized the bubble tea sale seemingly piqued students’ interests and enabled more direct student interaction. 

 “We usually try to do a presentation during our May meeting and talk about the background of the holiday, why we celebrate it, and how you can celebrate the month and apply what you’ve learned in your everyday life,” Li said. “But this year, the bubble tea sale definitely allowed more people to know about the club and people had more access to Asian culture that they may not usually see.”   

 The event’s success not only highlighted the club’s cultural aspects but also contributed significantly to its growth. This increased awareness and engagement were evident to many club members, including Senior Dexter Stevens.   

 “I hope that ASU can grow bigger. During my freshman and sophomore year, ASU was not that big because everyone was just getting back from covid,” Senior Dexter Stevens said. “I think it’s a good outlet for people who are Asian to come together and am happy to see the numbers go up again.  I also think news events like the bubble tea sale really helped to spread awareness too.”