By T’Neil Gooden
The Brooklyn College Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANAPISI) Project (BCAP) welcomed the Lunar New Year on Thursday, Feb. 6 with an open house for over 75 students within the BC community.
“Within the BC student population, 25% of them are Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders, so I think it’s about time that Brooklyn College has a space, specifically a student center for these [Asian] students,” Megan Go, the program coordinator for BCAP, told The Vanguard.
Thursday’s open house opened with words from Sau-fong Au, the director of the Women’s Center, and Go. They spoke about the importance of having a community and space for students of Asian descent.
“We just want to make sure that we are supporting students of these backgrounds […] I think community is really important here at BC, especially in times like these. We absolutely need to have each other’s backs and just know that there is somewhere for you to go if you don’t know where to go on campus,” Go told The Vanguard.
Students entering the open house were greeted with red envelopes, which symbolize luck and good fortune, filled with treats and information about BCAP as they took the opportunity to celebrate the Lunar New Year alongside the open house.
“BCAP is important for BC students because it connects students to useful resources and opportunities to build skills and make important connections,” Samantha Loriston, a senior at BC told The Vanguard.
Students teamed up with one another and contributed to a Kahoot game that was centered around the traditions, facts, and knowledge about the Lunar New Year. Students learned about the importance of colors, zodiac signs, and red envelopes to these cultures by taking part in the game.
“The red envelopes and the game were my favorites because my students got to do interactive things while mingling and meeting with new and old students,” Leslie Ramirez Carbajal, the program director at BC’s Immigrant Student Success Office (ISSO), told The Vanguard.
ISSO was not the only organization that came to see the new and running BCAP community. The Women’s Center, the Black and Latino Male Initiative (BLMI), and the LGBTQ+ Resource Center members all came and supported each other with their open houses.
“We have a big community at Brooklyn College, and many folks from Asia, and we want to make sure that we represent our population,” Carbajal told The Vanguard. “It’s always great to find a home on campus, away from home.”
BCAP opened its doors with not only open arms but also new furniture, allowing more students to be able to enter the room and use its amenities.
“It felt like a good start to the semester since we have our new furniture, Lunar New Year, and a new semester,” Go said. “We thought an open house was the best idea and it brought a good turnout to BCAP, it was a beautiful scene to see.”
This open house introduced new and returning students to the new and ongoing resources available in the BCAP room.
“I think something we’re trying to let students know about is that we do mental health referrals here, that is a big part of our project,” Go told The Vanguard. “We want to support the mental health of our students so they have a community partner.”
BCAP will host more events during the semester that students can participate in and learn more about AANAPISI heritage.
“We do have a couple of events coming up. So in terms of events, we do have a ‘Destigmatizing Mental Health’ event with our community partner, Hametsun Medicine House on Tuesday, Feb. 25, during common hours,” Go told The Vanguard. “We will be talking about breaking down mental health stigma, especially within the Asian-American Pacific Islander community.”
For more information and ways to get involved, visit the BCAP Instagram page, @bcap.brooklyn.