Race, culture and identity conversations, and finding a sense of community as an Asian-American at ISU.

 

All of these aspects can be explored when attending the “ISU Making Progress for the Asian-American Community Today”, or IMPAACT, retreat.

 

Put together by students, the IMPAACT retreat and its organizers are not yet registered as a student organization at ISU. However, the two function with goals that aim to create a safe and inclusive community for Asian-Americans at Iowa State, Justin Winkel, a graduate student in social foundations of higher education and IMPAACT curriculum committee member, said.

 

Held the last two fall semesters at the Sunstream Retreat Center in Ogden, Iowa, recurring goals for the retreat have been to serve as a inclusive environment where discussions and personal growth can be made regarding the struggles that Asian-Americans face daily, Kevin Dang, an IMPAACT curriculum committee member and industrial engineering student, said.

 

“The conversations we have [at the retreat] are not generally conversations we would have with each other. We talk about a lot of hard-hitting subjects [involving] our identities, and our treatment on campus,” Seth Beckham, a management information systems student and fellow curriculum committee member of IMPAACT, said.

 

Among such subjects are conversations that cover Asian-American racism and stereotypes.

 

“We get to define racism and systems of oppression, and how [they] shape our identities every day…[we discuss] sexuality within Asian-Americans, the idea of “yellow fever” (or female Asian obsession), and the idea of Asian-American males [not being] seen as attractive in [our] society,” Dang said.

 

Also discussed are family pressures for academic success, and one’s sense of place living with mixed cultural backgrounds, Dang said.

 

“Learning outcomes for this [upcoming] semester [include] understanding the family structure that you might have. You might have Asian-American parents, and keeping their cultures and traditions and values [among American values can be hard],” Dang said.

 

Of the two days students are gone at the retreat, these kinds of conversations are planned into the event for a total of nine hours, Dang said, the rest of the time, students spend building a sense of community through activities.

 

The importance of having these conversations for many attendees involves being able to understand one’s Asian-American identity, and their ability to make impacts against oppression, Beckham said.

 

“At the retreat, we want to give people the tools to do something about microaggressions, and being oppressed. We want to give people the tools to make a change,” Beckham said.

 

For attendees like Celeste Ki, an IMPAACT curriculum committee member and journalism student, these intentions were well received.

 

“I felt like I didn’t have a community at ISU…I was dealing with a lot of microaggressions and hate from a lot of non-Asians,” Ki said.

 

Attending the IMPAACT retreat, and joining its curriculum committee, has since helped Ki better manage these facets of her life, while simultaneously giving her a valued sense of community, Ki said.

 

In Jan. 2017, IMPAACT won the “Martin Luther King, Jr. Advancing One Community Award” for its demonstration of creating an inclusive multicultural community, and bringing about systemic change at ISU.

 

Such awards, mixed with grants, are the ways in which IMPAACT self-funds their retreat, making the experience–the stay and meals– free to attendees, Dang said.

 

For any who want to get involved with the 2018 IMPAACT retreat in April, look to IMPAACT’s Facebook page to register and learn more. Registration closes Feb. 17, and is on a first-come, first-served basis