A new student group at Washington High School aims to be a home for the school’s more than 100 Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students.
The Asian Pacific Islander Student Association (APISA) was founded and formed by WHS senior Jenisha Gurung when she was a sophomore in May 2022, but APISA started to be more active last year.
“I am a big advocate for making people feel like they belong in an environment,” Gurung said. “Washington already does a great job of building our community and emphasizing that we need to push to be more belonging.”
Each high school has both sponsored and non-school-sponsored clubs for different racial and ethnic groups, and to celebrate different cultures, according to club listings on the Sioux Falls School District website.
For example, Jefferson High School has a Black Student Union, Tióšpaye Owáyawa Kiŋ and Okichiyapi Club. Lincoln High School has Latina Club and Mitakuye Oyasin. Roosevelt High School has an Asian Student Union, Black Student Union, Latinos Unidos, Multicultural Club and Tribal Club. Washington High School has African Drama Club, Amigos Hispanos, APISA, Black Student Union and Okichiyapi.
More:How a high school’s Black Student Union is fighting racism across South Dakota
APISA at WHS was the first club in the district to represent AAPI students and was soon followed by the ASU at RHS, Gurung, the current APISA president, said. Brenda Khatthanam, a senior and vice president of APISA, said she and Gurung were inspired by the BSU and club for Indigenous students at WHS and wanted a spot for Asians and Asian-American students.
“I feel like those experiences are vastly different, too, whether you’re Asian-American or an Asian immigrant,” Khatthanam, who is Vietnamese and Lao, said. “When we created this club, it was less about teaching others about culture, but more about having everyone else’s cultures bring us together.”
Gurung said about 25 to 30 students show up to APISA’s bimonthly…
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