Students Highlight AAPI Heritage Month

As part of May’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, the school community celebrated the diversity of Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

International Club members brought attention to cultural stereotypes and highlighted the contributions of notable public figures during upper school Morning Meeting on May 13.

Co-chair Noon (Stellar) Son ’21, who presented with co-chair Zhiyan (Alex) Wang ’21 and members Luqi (Luke) Zhu ’22 and Dayan Battulga ’23, said it was important to call attention to this month “because diversity matters, and so does the history of AAPI individuals.“ 
 
A short video titled “How You See Me” featured young people of Asian descent talking about the prejudices they have faced, followed by a slide show that included theoretical physicist Zhen Ning Yang, K-pop group Blackpink and actor Dwayne Johnson. Club members Haoqing (Sunny) Shi ’22, Marie Kyo ’22, Ru (Amy) Meng ’21 and Yasmine Pascal ’21 helped with the research and preparation.

Director of Global and Civic Exchange Robert Fish said that “Because we know this is a larger cultural problem, it is important to find spaces to highlight the voices of Asian and Asian-American students at Masters, and to highlight the diversity of Asian cultures, not only during AAPI Heritage month, but throughout the year.” 

Wang said that highlighting the different cultures and perspectives of Asians and Pacific Islanders is essential, because “given the growing incidents of Asian hate crimes, it's even more important to break the stereotypes about Asians and raise a voice for them.”
 
At a recent middle school Morning Meeting on May 28, Rohan Lavery ’26, Thomas McCallum ’26, Cameron Abrahams ’26 and Marcus McGregor ’26 of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Student Leadership Group spoke about the history of AAPI Heritage Month and discussed what it means to be Asian American and Pacific Islander. 

Next week, John-Alec Raubeson and Paul Friedman’s 7BB advisory will present a slideshow about noteworthy AAPI individuals that includes Senator Tammy Duckworth, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and architect I. M. Pei.

Raubeson is pleased that the students ”have figured out that engaging with people, traditions, cultures and lifestyles of others who may be perceived as different from them and their own traditions makes life more interesting and helps to break down stereotypes and marginalization that occur based on identity.”

Middle School Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Brittany Farrar noted that “These students, supported by departing eighth graders, will make sure the DEI Leadership Group is in good hands next year, and continues to address the most pressing issues in our community and in the wider world.”

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