Asian American students share cultural reality during Hancock heritage event | Local News

Kirsten Matematico was one of four students on the panel, who said that while she loves being Filipino, growing up attending predominantly White schools made it a challenging journey for her to fully embrace her identity. It was only when she joined Hancock, her first year there, that she said she finally felt at ease discussing her culture.

“I joined the APEX club and that’s where I felt more pride in my culture. I was like, ‘Oh, I can be open about it,’ because in high school, so many people would be like, ‘Why do you make that your personality? Okay, you’re Filipino, so what?’ So I just never felt comfortable being able to talk about my culture and being here it’s so nice. I love it,” said Matematico.

Asian Pacific Education Xenomania (APEX) engages students in learning about a variety of Asian cultures, traditions, and cuisines with the hope of expanding their knowledge and understanding of Asian and Pacific Islander history, present and future.

Hancock student Andrei Josh Villalobos sang, “Take me out of the Dark,” by Gary Valenciano, and said he is a singer who believes there is something that is greater than himself. “I believe gifts are given to us by God for his story, not for ours. That’s why I decided to sing that song,” he said.

“It shares the gospel in a season where you are in this dark place and it shares there is hope on the other side of that, and that hope is God,” said Villalobos. “So this song reminded me of that and that is the type of artist I want to be. I just want to use this gift that God gave me to share his glory…