Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Every year, the Wesleyan community comes together to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in April with a variety of events, initatives, performances, and celebrations. Please come out and support as many of the great events listed below as you are able!
2024 AAPI Month Committee: Meera Nemali '24, Andrea Lim '24, Swaraj Rai '24, Zain Punjwani '25, Sarah Huang '25, Jen Cheng (Office of Student Involvement), Demetrius Colvin (The Resource Center), Kiara Ruesta-Cayetano (The Resource Center)
AAPI Month Convocation
- Event Time and Date: Monday, April 1st 6:00PM-8:00PM
- Event Location/Zoom Information: PAC Forum
- Event Organizers: AASC
- Event Description: Join AASC for the 2024 AAPI Month Convocation with speeches given by Asian and Asian-American students, faculty, and alumni addressing the theme of this year's AAPI month, which is InnovASIAN.
Grave of the Fireflies Film Screening
- Event Time and Date: Friday, April 5th, 8:00pm
- Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
- Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
- Event Description: 1988. Japan. Dir: Isao Takahata. Animated Film. 89 min. (Free). Set in the city of Kobe, Japan in June 1945, it tells the story of two siblings and war orphans, Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of World War II. Universally acclaimed, Grave of the Fireflies has been ranked as one of the greatest war films of all time and is recognized as a major work of Japanese animation.
Alumni / LinkedIn Workshop
- Event Time and Date: Wednesday, April 10th, 4:30pm-6:30pm
- Event Location/Zoom Information: LinkedIn Workshop and Headshots in PAC 307, Panel in PAC 301
- Event Organizers: AASC
- Event Description: Asians students are encouraged to stop by PAC for Headshots + Linkedin for the first hour at 4:30pm and an alumni panel for the next hour starting at 5:30pm.
WesPress x Shapiro Writing Center Event
- Event Time and Date: Thursday, April 11th, 6:00pm
- Event Location/Zoom Information: McKelvey Room, Admissions Building, 70 Wyllys
- Event Organizers: Stephanie Prieto
- Event Description: WesPress x Shapiro presents Kazim Ali. A reading and conversation. Kazim Ali's work encompasses multiple genres, including poetry and cross-genre texts. His novels include 'The Secret Room: A String Quartet' and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir, 'Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies,' and 'Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice,' and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, 'Northern Light.' Wesleyan published 'Sukun: New and Selected Poems' in the fall of 2023. After a career in public policy and organizing, he is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego.
Songkran Water Festival
- Event Time and Date: Saturday, April 13th, 2:00pm-4:00pm
- Event Location/Zoom Information: Huss Lawn
- Event Organizers: ThaiSA
- Event Description: The Songkran Water Festival celebrates Thai New Years with water fights and music. This year the Thai Student Association brings the celebration to Huss Lawn with water guns and celebratory music to share our culture with the student body.
75 Years of Silence: The Continuing Need for Acknowledgment, Accountability, and Reconciliation between the United States and the Korean People
- Event Time and Date: Tuesday, April 16th, 4:30pm
- Event Location/Zoom Information: Human Rights House; 101 High Street
- Event Organizers: University Network of Human Rights
- Event Description: The Songkran Water Festival celebrates Thai New Years with water fights and music. This year the Thai Student Association brings the celebration to Huss Lawn with water guns and celebratory music to share our culture with the student body.
Monster Film Screening
- Event Time and Date: Thursday, April 18th, 8:00pm
- Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
- Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
- Event Description: 2023. Japan. Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Mystery Thriller. 125 min. (Free). A suburban town with a large lake. A single mother who loves her son, a school teacher who cares about her students, and innocent children lead a peaceful life. One day, a fight breaks out at school. It looked like a common fight between children, but their claims differed, and it gradually developed into a big deal involving society and the media. Then one stormy morning, the children suddenly disappear.
Spa Night Film Screening
- Event Time and Date: Wednesday, May 1st, 8:00pm
- Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
- Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
- Event Description: 2016. United States. Dir: Andrew Ahn. Drama. 93 min. (Free). A closeted Korean-American teenager takes a job at a Korean spa to help his struggling family, only to discover an underground world of gay sex at the spa that both scares and excites him.involving society and the media. Then one stormy morning, the children suddenly disappear.