Chamblee’s Asian American Student Association (AASA), a club dedicated to providing an environment for Asian Americans at our school to connect with one another, had its interest meeting on August 22nd, where the officers explained their goals for the upcoming year. With Kai Henderson (‘24) as president, Suramya Srivastava (‘25) as vice president, Brianna Lin (‘24) as secretary, Lyvia Huang (‘25) as treasurer, and Hanna Lin (‘24) as the communications officer, the club is wholly run by Asian upperclassmen.

“I felt qualified [to run] because I had other leadership positions in the past, like I was a captain of tennis, and I started a neuroscience club. So, I just felt that maybe another leadership position would not hurt. I was already used to leading, so I thought I could do it well,” said Henderson.

Neathan Aresh (‘23), last school year’s AASA vice president, feels confident in the new officers’ abilities as well.

“I think the new AASA officers are well-equipped and responsible enough to run the club. They are all bright individuals, and I cannot wait to see where they bring the club,” said Aresh.

The club will meet in Ms. Samantha Gilliam’s room, typically once a month, to discuss and learn about a different culture.

“Each month, we want to celebrate one Asian holiday. We do not want it to just be East Asian holidays or anything like that. We will probably have a PowerPoint and have people research about that holiday and talk about it, and hopefully we will have snacks and activities at each meeting,” said Lin.  

Gilliam has sponsored AASA since the fall of 2021, when it was created following the Atlanta spa shootings in which eight victims were killed, 6 of whom were Asian. 

“I had some students who reached out to me to see if I would sponsor Chamblee’s Asian American Student Association because they felt like they needed a space to talk with each other. The first couple of meetings that year were all virtual,” said Gilliam. 

As for the activities this upcoming year, there several are being planned.

“We are doing some things like the Mid-Autumn Festival for Japan and the Lunar Festival for Singapore and China. We have some other events planned later in the year for December and January,” said Henderson. 

Not only does Gilliam provide the space for the club to meet, but she is also the mediator between what the school needs done to have an active club at Chamblee. 

“I deal with the paperwork that the officers never see. I think what they want to do this year is ambitious, but I think it would be a lot of fun. So, I hope we get to do all of the stuff on their agenda,” said Gilliam. 

The officers are especially looking forward to planning a potluck dinner since the one last year was a hit.

“I am definitely excited [to plan] the potlucks because they are a lot of fun, and you can eat food from all kinds of different countries. It is nice to be able to experience different cultures that aren’t your own and to expand your horizons,” said Henderson. 

Aresh’s favorite memory of AASA is the aforementioned potluck dinner he and his fellow officers planned last school year. 

“My favorite memory of AASA was our potluck dinner last year. It was just so nice seeing and trying foods from different cultures while mingling with them. It was truly a blast being a part of AASA and meeting new people. We created a community for all of the Asian American students at Chamblee, and they turned up in numbers we could only imagine,” said Aresh.

Aresh wants the new officers to continue the impact AASA has at Chamblee, and he advises them to branch out and create new experiences for the club.

“Advice I would give the new officers is to have meetings to plan out events and meetings and to not be afraid to try new things. Most importantly, I want to tell them to have fun and make the club as welcoming as possible,” said Aresh. 

The new officers are certainly dedicated to preserving this welcoming spirit as the current  AASA president hopes to have a lasting impact on the club’s members.

“I want to be remembered as a cheerful guy who tried to spread Asian love,” said Henderson.