Living in the Bay Area is living in a richly diverse community. In the Hollenbeck complex close to HHS, one can find bento boxes next to Greek salads or grab pearl tea right after stopping for a bite of bagel.

 In order to ensure that unique cultural traditions and specialties are kept alive, there are a myriad of student associations across campus working to educate their members, whether the students are part of that culture or just interested in gaining more exposure. 

Many forms of Hong Kong culture have become increasingly mainstream due to the prevalent Asian community within the Cupertino area, senior, treasurer of Hong Kong student association Elizabeth Truong said, especially popular desserts and food items such as dumplings.

In order to educate their members, junior, vice president of HKSA Elizabeth Wong said the club uses general meetings to promote awareness of events, such as the recent multicultural night, and to discuss relevant aspects of Taiwanese culture.

“[We go over] general culture, like landmarks, food, etc. and the language,” Wong said. “During every meeting, we introduce members to different Cantonese phrases because Cantonese isn't as common around here and more people speak Mandarin.”

Asian American culture is also often misunderstood, Taiwanese student association president, senior Yenting Ling said. Specifically, different Asian cultures are easily confused with one another or grouped into one.

“[For example], most people will see Lunar New Year [and] they’ll call it Chinese New Year instead,” Ling said. “That is a big [deal] because many Asian countries [in that region] have similar practices. So calling Lunar New Year Chinese New Year is not very considerate to other countries [that celebrate it].”

Commercialization of culture is a substantial issue in the African American community, Black student union, vice president Eliana Randazzo said.

“People are taking the culture out of the stuff that we've done for so long, [like overlining your lips and acrylic nails],” Randazzo, a senior, said. “Culture that, back then, was deemed as ghetto and hood but now, on other people, it’s seen as classy and clean, which is really upsetting.”

Randazzo said the appropriation of her culture is incredibly disheartening. BSU attempts to dismantle these harmful ideas on campus, Randazzo said, by talking about everything from hip hop culture to new trends in the Black community. 

These double standards are incredibly harmful to the Black community, Randazzo said. The senior said she advocates for people to appreciate her heritage instead of trying to control it and to acknowledge the roots of cultural items or traditions. 

“A lot of times [Black people are] seen as ghetto or uneducated, which is completely not true,” Randazzo said. “We have worked so hard to get where we are now, and I wish that people would just appreciate it for how it is instead of deeming us as not good enough.”

Ultimately, it is up to students to hold themselves accountable and ensure they are appreciating Black culture for its originality, Randazzo said.

“It's really sad to me and I feel like my culture is being [erased] and I can't do anything about it,” Randazzo said. “I try to just spread as much awareness as I can, to try to bring light to the culture again.”