This month, several student organizations — including Hōkūpaʻa, the Pan Asian Community and the Office of Pluralism and Leadership — hosted events to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
OPAL, along with an elected student committee, coordinated events from April 27 to May 30 under the theme “Have You Eaten Yet?”
The theme “resonated” with the student coordinators because food is “important” to Asian cultures, according to student coordinator Kevin He ’29.
“Food is more important than just meal times,” he said. “History has shaped what we eat, where we eat … Eating has never really been a solo act in the Asian American community.”
A team of six student coordinators in OPAL has been planning the month’s events for “around two to three months,” according to He.
Programming began on April 27 with a series of events dedicated to celebrating queer and intersectional identities, co-hosted by the AAPIHM student committee and the Pride 2026 student committee. Video game designer Sharang Biswas ’12 gave a book talk on his work “The Iron Below Remembrance” at the Collis Center and presented a lecture titled “Queered Questions and Alumnus Answers” at the Triangle House, according to an OPAL flyer.
On May 4, the Pan Asian Community and OPAL hosted a night market on Mass Row featuring Asian American and Pacific Islander food dishes. In an email statement to The Dartmouth, student coordinator Jay Yim ’25 wrote that the night market was his “favorite” event of the month because it was the “perfect embodiment” of the year’s theme.
“Food is one of the most accessible and universal entry points into a culture; you don’t need any prior knowledge or context to sit down, share a dish and connect with someone,” Yim wrote. “The night market created exactly that kind of space, where over 770 people came together across different backgrounds and bonded over food. It made the theme tangible in the most joyful way possible.”
Additionally, Hōkūpaʻa executive board member Dustin Kealoha ’28, who helped to plan the annual lūʻau on May 10, said there are several different roles within the planning committee for the lūʻau.
“We have treasurers securing funding for the bands, lūʻau chairs that are choreographing and organizing and teaching all the dances and presidents are also reaching out to a lot of different people and trying to spread the word,” Kealoha said.
This year, lūʻau had more attendees this year than in any previous year, Kealoha said.
“That was definitely one of our biggest successes: ensuring that we can reach a lot of different people,” he said.
Beside the lūʻau, Kealoha said he enjoyed the screening of “Southeast Asian American Journeys,” a documentary series about the experiences of Southeast Asian American refugees, which was screened every Friday this May. He added that it was “important to highlight” the experiences of Southeast Asian Americans.
“What’s really fulfilling about this screening is that it really gives the stage [to] a lot of Asian American communities that otherwise wouldn’t be displayed out in the screens,” he said.
Other events included Songkran Water Festival on May 8, which celebrated the Thai new year with a water fight and Thai dishes; the Seoul Food market on May 24, which shared Seoul dishes; and Learn Tagalog on May 7, which was taught by Barkada.
Student committee member Grace Chang ’28 said AAPIHM will end on May 30 with the “Have You Sung Yet?” karaoke event, which will feature “raffle prizes, as well as just a fun night of music and food.”
Chang said AAPIHM represents a time for students to “dive into what [their] connections are.”
“This is a great time to celebrate who we are as well as have those deep discussions of identities that are overlooked, identities that are forgotten,” Chang said.
Mira Wissman '29 is a reporter from Bethesda, MD., and is majoring in Neuroscience.
Madeline Kahn Ehrlich '29 is a reporter from upstate New York. She is considering studying English and Public Policy. She enjoys creative writing, art and reading historical fiction.
