The Asian Culture club has made its debut in the OHS community at the beginning of the 2022-2023 academic year. The club consists of roughly thirty members and is designed to spread knowledge of the various Asian cultures as well as gai exposure to the various traditions. Members join for a variety of reasons, as some share their own personal culture and others learn more about their peers’ culture and traditions.

Senior co-president and co-founder Yiping Wang saw this club as the perfect opportunity for OHS students to converge and discuss their various cultures while promoting inclusivity and unity throughout the high school.

“We used to have a Chinese class and some other asian culture class but they canceled it because there are not enough people that take it so I think that a club might be a nice substitute to some of those classes to make up for the lack of asian representation,” Wang said.

The key purpose is to allow for students to share their own interesting backgrounds and cultures while having fun with each other. Wang enjoys the regional diversity across Asia and the ways that each area differentiates in cultural practices.

“Sometimes members bring food from their own culture. Sometimes we share foods and sometimes we do presentations of different cultures and sometimes people just chat around. At first people didn’t know each other that well but through talking with each other they are now friends,” Wang said.

Club member Syna Gandhi is grateful for the opportunity to share her culture beyond just a surface-level glance.

“I think the Asian culture club informs people that just because someone doesn’t look like their culture doesn’t mean they aren’t. I don’t look Indian because I am so pale and typically I use my instagram to show my culture but that’s just the top layer. There is so much detail and we get to learn about that detail when we come to these meetings and people present,” Gandhi said.

Ghandi is an avid member as she recently took up the opportunity to share different aspects of her culture with members during a recent club meeting.

“I did a presentation with another member on our culture such as holidays and religious aspects and brought in food as an example of our culture,” Gandhi said. “I wanted to show more people in person what my culture was about and give people more information to use to inform others. I hope more people join it not just to share their cultures but also to learn. One thing I really like is that I get to learn about new things through people’s point of view instead of online.”

Senior member Mina Kang appreciates how the club shares all aspects of the various Asian cultures. She appreciates the fact that she has the opportunity to share her traditions but also learn about others.

“It spreads knowledge about different Asian cultures. Typically people just know about one but there are so many other cultures that other people need to know and it’s great to expand that knowledge,” Kang said.

Wang highlights the fact that the club is a necessary addition to the OHS community because the school consists of a large population of students who have a relation Asian culture.

“We always have some people that have an Asian culture background in our school and Asian culture is popular in America,” Wang said. “We are not trying to isolate ourselves from American culture. It’s actually a representation of American culture and its diversity.”