Students were invited to play games, eat snacks, and socialize among one another Wednesday by the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander organization in collaboration with the Asian American Pacific Islander, also known as the AAPI, this event took place on the second floor of the Unity Center in Room SU-218.
Sophia Goyena, Heidriani Nanon, and Aki Sagun were in charge of hosting the mixer. “It’s to show that we have a community here on campus and to learn about different cultures. There’s going to be a series of games and we have cultural food for everyone who attends,” Goyena said.
The games consisted of Jackbox, Harana Heardle, and Lotería, with the opportunity to win a series of prizes such as Smiskis, which are blind box figures, snacks, and plushies.
At the event there were a variety of photocards for students to decorate with stickers at the craft table, as well as colored paper to make Origami and Mancala. Foods such as lumpia, sushi, chow mein, and boba were available for students.
Samantha De-Manuel who attended the event, shares her thoughts on the mixer, “It’s my first time here, and I feel like the people are really nice and I feel welcomed. There’s a lot of cute activities to do,” De-Manuel said.
Harana Heardle was the hit of the hour, as people seemed to enjoy the music trivia and put their music recognition skills to the test. The goal of the game was to guess the name of the song playing and to answer by running up to a buzzer.
Treasurer of KAPWA club, Ruth Onyeayana, shares her favorite part of the event. “My favorite part had to be the Harana Heardle, especially getting to share the songs that you like with your friends and getting to know other people’s music preferences. It was really intense and everyone was participating,” Onyeayana said.
As the event came to a close, Nanon said he was happy with the turnout of about 60 people.
“My expectations were greatly exceeded,” he said. “This event is more about socialization. The reason that I’m a part of this team is to promote the AAPI community. It tells me that there is a desire for spaces like this and for events like this.”
“When the room was full of conversation, that was my favorite part,” he added about the joyful event.
