Congratulations to our 2019-2020 AAST Minors!

Please join us in congratulating the students who have completed the Asian American Studies minor during the 2019-2020 academic year. This year, 19 exceptional students from majors across the campus completed the minor. Read below for excerpts from their experience in the program. We are so proud of our AAST minors!

Julian Avenilla '20

Julian identifies as Filipino-American whose pronouns are he/him/his. He hails from Germantown, Maryland, which is about 45 minutes outside of Washington D.C. Being a mecca of diverse identities, the D.C. Metro area shaped him into a life-long learner who enjoys trying new foods, attending cultural celebrations, and enjoying free events in cities. He recently moved to Los Angeles, where he’ll start his first job as a Tax Consultant for Deloitte. Outside of work, he hopes to be both a dad (one day) and a leader in the Asian-American community. Some other causes that matter to him include advocacy against domestic violence and raising awareness for pancreatic cancer. Julian especially loves the NBA, evening drives, and hearing people’s life stories.

The AAST minor empowered me to accept my Asian-American identity. Some professors who helped me reach that point include Gem Daus, Terry Park, and Julie Park.

Andrew Deng '20

Andrew is a General Biology major with minors in Asian American Studies and Statistics. During his time at UMD, he was involved in Mock Trial, the University Student Judiciary, and the Integrated Life Sciences Honors Program. His Asian American identity is built on understanding the internal and external narratives that shaped is life. To that end, he really appreciated AAST courses taught by Professors Andy Yeh and Terry Park.

My Intro to Asian American Literature with Andy revealed to me a genealogy of Asian American writers. From the lived experiences and stories of John Okada, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Viet Nguyen, I drew insights about themes in Asian American life. These authors were shaped by the events they endured, but their lessons about alienation, love, and healing in the aftermath of trauma still endure in our current moment. Further, I could openly discuss my readings of these texts with Andy. Rather than enforcing a standardized interpretation, he always engaged me in conversation, contextualizing and challenging my thought process. Asian American Lit exemplified Asian American issues through individual authors' encounters. But, Dr. Park's Asian American History and Media Studies courses illuminated unifying theories of the Asian American experience. Perhaps, Carlos Bulosan's America is in the Heart can be better understood if we know about the Filipinx migrant worker and Marx and Engel's framework on the ruling class and ideas. Dr. Park made sure we rigorously analyzed the movies, political events, and history made by or about Asian Americans. I've grown a lot because of the AAST program. I'm grateful to the professors and other students for teaching me about the society we live in. And, I've learned that creating new ideas isn't so daunting when you know you're a part of a legacy. Those literary figures and mentors who proceeded me dared to engage the world and left me so much to work with.

Ming Gault ‘20

Ming is a transnational and transracial adoptee raised in Prince George's County. Ming majored in Public Health Science with a minor in Asian American Studies. On campus, Ming was involved in the Taiwanese American Student Association, worked as a RA, and served as the Co-Marketing Director of Technica.

I learned a lot about my own identity as an Asian American in a way that I never had before taking AAST courses. As an transracial adoptee, I was raised in a white household that never talked about the issues Asian Americans face. Being surrounded by other Asian American students, and especially being taught by Asian American professors allowed me to learn about our history as Asians in America and the current, nuanced standing of Asian Americans in media and politics. I appreciated the small group discussions led by Dr. Park and the encouragement to respectfully discuss and debate our thoughts.

Ben Huynh '20

Ben is a Vietnamese American Family Science major. He enjoys playing tennis, basketball, and soccer. Ben’s research interests is on trauma.

Emily Jia '20

Emily is a second generation Chinese-American who is graduating this Spring with a Bachelor of Science in Information Science and a minor in Asian American Studies. After graduation she hopes to work in a field related to either user experience research or technology and information ethics.

The AAST minor helped me to fully explore aspects of Asian American identity that I was never able to learn about before. Knowing the impact that Asian Americans have had on society in fields, from politics to acting, allowed me to understand the multidimensional influence Asian Americans have had throughout history. Taking Asian American Performance with Dr. Terry Park was one of my favorites, because I was able to see my peers express their unique identities through art and performance - a medium that I rarely experimented with during my college career.

I hope to use the knowledge I gained to begin my journey in understanding and advocating for other underrepresented minority groups. Specifically as an information science major, I want to be able to use what I learned to advocate for accessibility in technology for immigrants and other minority group members.

Andrew Moy '20

Andrew Moy is a major in Psychology and double-minor in Asian American Studies and Chinese. He is currently the Program Coordinator at the International Leadership Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the leadership development of Asian American college students, which also allows him to explore his interests in Asian American leadership and culture. With this experience, he's excited to see where his career will take him after graduating. When he's not hard at work, Andrew enjoys cooking, gaming, collecting sneakers, and browsing subtle asian traits.

The entirety of Dr. Park's Asian American History class was absolutely incredible and I learned so much from it. Definitely my views of Asian American history and the cultural context that surrounds us in today's society have been developed from the experience.

Caz Nguyen '21

Caz a second-generation Vietnamese-American whose pronouns are "they" and "she." She is majoring in Psychology and minoring in French and Asian American Studies.

My first semester at UMD, I took an AAST class because I was interested in learning more about people who looked like me. A few weeks into taking the class, I felt so at home with the content taught; it was the first time that my people's history was being taught in class and after a couple office hours with Dr. Park, I quickly decided that I wanted to join the minor.

Jonathan Ortega '20

Jonathan Ortega is a kinesiology major and Asian American Studies minor. He is also the co-chair and national director for District VI within the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue Incorporated (FIND, Inc.) and is also involved with the Filipino Cultural Association at the University of Maryland, College Park and intramural sports at UMD.

Diksha Patel '20

Diksha has a Bachelors of Science in Biology and a minor in Asian American Studies. Throughout her college years, she got to explore many different student clubs and organizations. Some that have impacted her the most are MaryPIRG, a student activist group, and Bhakti Yoga, a spiritual and meditation group. Next, she will be taking a gap year to gather clinical and direct patient care experience, as well as study for the GRE. After which, she hopes to attend PA school and pursue a career as a Physican’s Assistant.

I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge as an Asian American Studies minor. Whether it was in Dr. Terry Park’s Intro to AAST class, his media class, or Lakshmi Sridaran’s class on South Asian Americans, each class has equipped me with a powerful tool belt of Asian American history and experiences with which I can confidently analyze the world around me. Watching a movie, show, or any media will never be the same again for I will always be looking for representation. Studying the intersectionalities between the various social categorizations and practicing solidarity has allowed me to view each situation from all sides and has made me more open minded. Asian American Studies has rejuvenated the activist inside me and inspired me to strive to make this world a better place for everyone.

Jennifer Ann Strong '20

In addition to being an Asian American Studies minor, Jennifer is a double major in Biology and Health and Marginalized Communities, a major she created herself through the Individual Studies Department. In the Fall of 2020, she will enter the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Class of 2024. As a physician, she hopes to address health disparities through working in underserved communities. In particular, she is incredibly passionate about women's health. She developed this passion through working at a women's health clinic in Greenbelt, MD for the past two years. Jennifer has also volunteered as an English tutor for elementary school students through Greenbelt CARES. In her free time, she likes to cook and spend time outdoors hiking.

My classes within Asian American studies were the first time I ever felt my own background represented in my education. Before joining the AAST minor, I never fully understood the place of Asian Americans within the typical black-white racial discourse. However, after learning of the model minority myth and important Asian American figures such as Grace Lee Boggs, I now feel more empowered to engage in conversations about race. My favorite class was Dr. Terry Park's Asian American Media course. Our class discussions really transformed the way I think about Asian American media representation. For the final project, I worked with a group to create a news broadcast about The Big Sick and it was the most innovative and fun assignment I had in college.

Rosamae G. Vicencio '20

Rosamae is a Filipino American born and raised in Maryland. She is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Asian American Studies, and is heavily involved with the Filipino Cultural Association at UMD.

Prior to taking any AAST classes I had very limited knowledge on Asian American history and experience. My favorite class was AAST398G, the creative writing course. The class became so personally and I learned so much about myself and other Asian Americans/minority students in my class. And that’s not something you get to hear in many college courses. Minoring in AAST gave me and so many students and opportunity to express ourselves and learn about why rewriting the narrative about our history is so important.

Timothy Yun '20

Tim was born in Korea and came to the States when he was 12 years old. He grew up in a normal family with loving and hardworking parents. Tim is a senior at UMD studying Information Science and Asian American Studies. He is a math tutor and enjoys soccer outside of school.

I decided to take some AAST courses because I was curious about how Asians are portrayed in this diverse country and I wanted to learn more about the origin of existing stereotypes and prejudice against Asians. The AAST minor opened my eyes to be aware of my surroundings, especially the media, and made me become a little bit more sensitive. One memory I cherish in my heart is when I volunteered to be one of the student panelist to talk about college experience to, mainly, Chinese parents. This was very memorable for me because I was able to hear about other students' stories and their struggles. This also made me closer to my parents because, after listening to concerns from the parents, I was able to understand my parents better about their concerns about me.

I hope to apply what I learned in AAST classes in my future whether it is supporting a good cause or resisting a possible conflict.

Ruxi Zhang '20

Ruxi is an international student from China majoring in Economics with a minor in Asian American Studies. Her career interest is in the field of public policy.

I really enjoyed Phil Nash's Public Policy class. It was amazing to be able to go to DC and see Chinatown and artifacts that have been significant in Asian American history.

2019-2020 AAST Minors not pictured above:

Dong Hoon (Tony) Baek ‘20
Major in Computer Science

Lucy Chen ‘20
Major in American Studies

Philip Han ‘20
Major in American Studies, Minor in U.S. Latina/o Studies

Joseph Lui ‘20
Double Major in Computer Science and Operations Management & Business

Yashashri Pendse ‘21
Major in Computer Science, Minor in Mathematics

Daphney Vargot ‘20
Major in Economics