News

ADPIC hopes to become their own center

New center gets AS funding for their own space

When coming to a place that’s far away from home, as Humboldt State University is for many students, it can be difficult to find a place where they feel like they belong, especially for students of color. Luckily, there are some cultural centers and programs where students can feel closer to home, one of which is the Asian Desi Pacific Islander Collective, also known as ADPIC. 

At the moment, ADPIC is being hosted by the MultiCultural Center but are currently working on getting their own space. Just last spring, they were approved for funding by Associated Students.

ADPIC members outside of Balabanis House 55 on Sept. 21, 2019
Photo taken by: Ava Mark

“It formed as a student club five years ago because we were tired of not being represented here on campus,” ADPIC President and Coordinator, Tammy Prakonkham said. “Now, we’re a cultural program that’s funded by Associated Students so we’re one step closer to getting our own academic center for excellence.”

ADPIC has been applying to become an independent center for the last three years but Prankonkham said that they’re unfortunately a low priority. She believes that because of the model minority myth, the school assumes that Asians are highly successful but she believes that they still need their own space, especially here at HSU where they are an underrepresented group. 

“I’m hoping next year and with how well we do this year, they’ll actually provide a room for us knowing that there’s students who need resources like us cause we do a lot of community outreach,” Prakonkham said. “We also work with students who don’t have their citizenship and we work with Scholars Without Borders for that.”

Assistant Dean of Students and ADPIC program Advisor, Roger Wang, also believes that having an academic center for excellence for the students at ADPIC is the next goal for the program. 

“I think that’s part of what the center does, I think that’s part of what college is here for.”

Roger Wang

“I know for a lot of Asian Americans, especially for myself, we often grow up disassociating with our identity and identifying as white and it comes with a lot of stereotypes and baggage and it takes a lot to break that down, a lot of education and a lot of just rediscovering who we are,” Wang said. “I think that’s part of what the center does, I think that’s part of what college is here for.”

Prakonkham, along with Vice President and Coordinator, Ava Mark, run most of ADPIC’s operations. The program has about 26 members and a sister club at College of the Redwoods. Many of the members said that they joined ADPIC because of the sense of community that the program offered. 

“The reason I joined ADPIC, I think at first it was to find a home away from home,” HSU student, Jonathan Saeteurn said. “It was really difficult at first my freshman year to adjust to the college life because I didn’t have too many friends because I lived off campus.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *