This project began with the seemingly simple question: What was the very first AAPI student org at UC Irvine? To this day, after months of research, I still have yet to answer this question. Why? Quite simply, no one bothered to properly record that information or else make sure that this basic fact was not lost to time. In other words, not enough people saw this history as something worth preserving.

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It is unfortunate that much of the early history of AAPI student orgs has either been untold or completely forgotten. When I first began this project, I was utterly perplexed by how little information there was on UCI’s AAPI student orgs. I found a number of fliers and newsletters in UCI’s Special Collections, which were great in conveying what some of the orgs were like in their old days.

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But what about their origins? For many orgs, we still don’t know questions like what made their founders say one day, “Hey, let’s do this,”? What were their thoughts before, during, and after the process of building their organization? Did they have doubts? Did they just know that they had it in them to make a great and lasting club? Also, how was the experience? Was it fun, was it stressful? What challenges did they face? And, what I really wanted to know, what funny, interesting, and/or crazy untold stories did these people have in the club??

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I was eventually able to ask some founders these questions in a newsletter interview, and I got some really great answers from them. But it definitely bothered me that we don’t have more of these stories and detailed histories for all the AAPI student orgs, both past and present. But what bothered me even more was the idea that these stories and histories could be lost forever. Some already have been lost forever (at least it strongly seems so). The fact that I can’t even answer my original simple question is evidence of that.

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Some orgs to this day do not post their history on their official websites or even take and share photos of minor/important events like their weekly meetings or their annual Culture Nights. This is not meant to be a criticism necessarily, but rather me pointing out that there is a pressing need to make this information more easily accessible and known.

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Hence, this website was created to preserve the histories of AAPI student orgs and to bring their most valued information into one place so that anyone and everyone can have a simpler time of perusing them. What you'll find on this website:

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• A list of AAPI student orgs, containing their "About" statements, their mission statements, links to their website, a list of their annual events, and, if available, their brief history and pdf artifacts related to their past. 

• A timeline of AAPI student orgs within the greater context of AAPI history. This timeline was created after seeing how little AAPI students were mentioned in UCI's official history timeline.   

• Links to all the At a Glance newsletters, which also contribute to the storytelling of AAPI student org history.

 

The story of UCI’s AAPI student orgs still remains largely untold, but I hope that this website can be used as a springboard for future research projects looking into that important past. I also hope that this website inspires student orgs to see themselves and their history as being truly valuable and so should be conveyed proudly and fully on their websites. In any case, this website is for you, whoever you may be, so please enjoy and share with your friends and family.