On finding community and being involved with the Asian American community in college

"I've always had problems, like feeling super valid in my identity, because I'm mixed. Being here, I feel like maybe it has improved a little bit, like I felt more affirmed. But I wouldn't say I'm, like, super involved in the Asian American community here, so I think I still have a lot of work to do."

"I do [[want to get more involved.]] I was involved initially, but like, I had other issues with the groups, but I do wish I had made more of an effort. I think, like being so involved in Greek life for a while, it was a little bit of a setback in that way."

On her experiences in Greek life as an Asian American

"Being POC in a sorority is not the best experience, at least for me and the sorority that I was in, because I think some of them can be super diverse, and there are, like, a lot of POC in sorority life that are doing a great job and seem to have good experiences. But at least the one that I was In, they were into diversity, but like, not racial diversity. It was more—I think they emphasized more LGBTQ+ type diversity. I felt like my race wasn't something that people wanted to discuss or really wanted to think about at all. So they were just kind of ignorant of it. Ignorant, and sort of scared. I think a lot of people here are scared to even talk about it. They would rather it just not be mentioned and not be a part of their life. Honestly, I'm like, met with a lot of silence. Like, even if I mention race, it's just uncomfortable silence, and then they just move on. It's like a conversation that they don't really want to have."

On her opinion of ASIG, the new Asian American sorority

"Well, I think, honestly, Greek life is based on whiteness. Like, just as an institution, it has a lot of issues, like misogyny, racism, stuff like that. I don't have a lot of hope for the institution in general, but I think, creating the Asian American sorority, like, I sort of wish that had been a thing when I came here, because I think that would've been really, really cool."

On her experience(s) of being mixed race, before and during college

"I went through most of my life identifying as white, even though I'm like, 50% Filipino, 50% white, but just where I grew up, in Charlottesville, and I was just in a really white community. I actually didn't know any other Asian people, except for my family, and we all identified as white, lowkey, even my mom, who's like, fully Filipina. We just didn't talk about it. And so like being in college, honestly, it's like one of the first times where I was around other, especially like other mixed people, or like other Asian American people. Like, this is the biggest Asian American community I've ever been around in my life. And just hearing people talking about their identity, like it was never really discussion before, like I never really talked about it. So I do think that I've become more comfortable, identifying as Asian American, or like Filipina American. And there's also a lot of conversations about race, so I think it's really allowed me to sort of understand better. I don't know all the complexities of being mixed, I think I still have a lot of work to do, because I often don't really feel valid still. And I think that's a common experience for a lot of mixed people, too. So I want to continue to work on that."

On joining FASA in freshman year

"When I first heard that there was FASA, Filipino American Student Association, I was so excited. And that was one of the first organizations that I joined, and I was pretty involved. I was super excited to finally be around a Filipino community. But I did, sort of stop. I didn't continue to be so involved. But at first, definitely, I feel like I sort of dove into it, and that was the first time I really felt validated as well, because I would express that, 'Yeah, I'm only half' and people would be like, 'No, but you're Filipina.' And like, that was really a great feeling. And there were other mixed people there too, and that was the first time where I was like, 'Yeah, I am Filipina.' So yeah, I definitely dove right into it, at least for my freshman year."

On the lack of diversity, diverse perspectives in History classes

"I would say Psychology is pretty diverse. It's just like a really big major. Maybe there is a specific racial makeup, but I haven't really noticed it. I feel like it's pretty evenly distributed. But history, oh my god. Like, I do have issues with history, because I would say white men are definitely the primary demographic. I'm like the only female POC in my history class right now. And that happens a lot, and it really does make a difference, especially for a subject like history, to have different perspectives. And it also bothers me how a lot of classes don't really focus on my people's history and stuff like that. 

Like, for instance, we're learning about World War II right now. And, like, it's as if Asia was not involved at all. Like, if you took this class, you would think that. Like, no, they don't even talk about Japan. We read two pages about Japan, and the rest is just about Germany and America and Britain. Yeah, and I'm just like, 'Is it a global class, or is it, like, European focus?' It's just a history class, like a World War history class, like war and memory. Japan had a lot to do with this, and it just sort of sucks. But, no one cares, because obviously, I guess it doesn't really matter to them. I mean it should, but like, it matters more to me, obviously, since [my Filipinos] were so affected and stuff like that. So that's really frustrating. And that means we can't have a lot of [[meaningful discussions]]—like a lot of them are discussion based, and other people don't really have an interest in things that I'm interested in. And I think my interests are influenced by my identity and so, yeah, I do wish that history classes were more diverse."