Senior Chen Cao joined the Asian Student Union last year solely with the intention of helping with their website. What he found in the ASO, however, was a warm and welcoming community and a multitude of new friends.
This year, Cao is the vice president of the ASO and has responsibilities beyond working on the website. Cao said that in return, the ASO “connect[s] [him] with a broader web of people,” not just within ASO but “in general throughout the school.”
The many diverse backgrounds and cultures found among the South student body make it impossible for every group to be represented in a student union or organization.
Senior Benjy Alaluf was one of the few students to stand by ELL teacher Michael Peabody in his attempt to start a Latino student union, an idea that had been broached before, but with no success.
Alaluf said that there was a meeting regarding the potential Latino student union that about five students attended, though only two, including Alaluf, pursued interest afterwards. “[Being in a Latino Student Union] would make me feel more different,” Alaluf said.
“I guess there just weren’t enough people, so we dropped it.”
While Cao believes his participation in ASO unites him with a variety of people, Alaluf sees the unions as a line of separation between the union members and the rest of the school community.
Though junior Shireen Pourbemani has no union that represents her Persian background, simply being a part of the south community is enough for her to feel included. The idea of unions in general does not appeal to her.
“[I] don’t have to specifically join a union to say I’m here. I fit in fine without joining a union … you can be who you want to be,” Pourbemani said.
According to Pourbemani, no one has tried to start a Persian Student Union. “If I felt it [not having a Persian Student Union] was unfair, I would go out and start it myself,” she said.
While Alaluf does not share this view with Pourbemani, arguing that background-based student unions are important, he has never felt inclined to connect with his religious community by joining the Jewish Student Union.
“I feel more rooted in being Latino than [I do in being] Jewish,” he said.
The JSU, however, has proved to be quite popular among students, with forty to fifty students showing up each week.
Elisha Rubin, who is part of the national JSU organization and comes to South every Thursday J-block to lead meetings, said the turnout at South is much better than at the various other schools he visits.
Though the group is affiliated with Judaism, many of its members are not Jewish. “The majority is definitely Jewish,” Rubin said, though noting that many other students stop by during the Thursday J-block meetings.
The JSU runs discussions, celebrates Jewish holidays and holds debates on news events from both individual and Jewish perspectives. As an added appeal, “there is always free pizza and drinks,” Rubin said.
Like the JSU, the ASO officers have made it a goal for the club to welcome students of all ethnicities, not only those of Asian ethnicity. “The environment is definitely welcoming,” advisor Maryanne McChesney said. “What people might be taken at back by, is if they have never been in a room where they are the minority. [But] what we actually do is very welcoming,” she said.
The Black Student union, composed of about 10 to 20 students, also reaches out to students of any background or culture. Advisor Katani Sumner made it especially clear that the union is not exclusively for METCO students.
“Of course if there is food and it is advertised, the number [of students who show up] doubles,” Sumner said, noting that about one to two white students typically come to the union meetings.
“Newton student, Boston student, black white, it doesn’t matter,” Sumner said.
Officers of the ASO fear, however, that the name of the ASO may deter non-Asian students from joining.
“ASO implies that you have to be Asian to join. ACC [Asian Culture Club] would imply that you wouldn’t have to be Asian to join,” Cao said.
“If you are willing to meet new people, try a culture and try new things, then you are welcome to join,” he said.
