Asian Culture Center celebrates 14th anniversary

Students packed into the Asian Culture Center on Wednesday to celebrate the center’s 14th anniversary with games, henna tattoos and Chinese calligraphy.

“This is to honor the students and to celebrate the students for their contributions to the center,” ACC Director Melanie Castillo-Cullather said. “It’s their day.”

Second-year graduate student Chung-yu Fang sat at a table with calligraphy brushes, jars of black ink and students hungry to learn the basics of calligraphy.

Fang, originally from Taiwan, said she spent about 10 years perfecting her calligraphy. She formally practiced the art as part of her undergraduate studies and volunteered to help others at the open house event learn.

“I think people who visit the Asian Cultural Center are very interested in Asian culture ... so it’s easy to teach them,” she said.

Some of the students in attendance already spoke a bit of Chinese or knew some Chinese characters, which she said was helpful when teaching them. Some struggled to properly grip the brush, which had to be held at a 90-degree angle to the paper.

Sophomore Kristina Luu had never tried her hand at Chinese calligraphy, so Fang taught her several basic strokes — horizontal lines, vertical lines and dots.

“You’re like, ‘That’s really simple. I’ll be able to catch on,’ right?” Luu said. “But then you do it, and you don’t realize all that goes into calligraphy.”

Senior Lauren Kastner also volunteered to provide henna tattoos to open house participants. Kastner took classes about the process of henna while studying abroad last year in Hyderabad, India.

The first couple weeks of her class consisted of pen-and-pencil work, Kastner said, creating and connecting intricate henna designs on paper.

“We didn’t even get to touch henna for a couple weeks,” she said.

It was a way for her to connect with Indian culture, she said, and ultimately bring it back home with her.

Castillo-Cullather said in the past 14 years she has been with the center, the physical space hasn’t really changed.

“But the number of students who have used the center — and faculty and staff and community members — has grown,” she said.

The number of events has expanded since the center opened in 1998, Castillo-Cullather said. Some events, such as the “Over a Cup of Tea” series, have been successful and adopted as “signature events.”

Castillo-Cullather said that in the past 14 years, the center has also worked to convince students it is not just a place for individuals of Asian descent.

“We try to convey that and let everyone know in so many different ways, and I think we’ve been very successful,” she said. “We’re seeing a very diverse audience coming to use the center.”

The center has not only grown on campus but off campus as well, Castillo-Cullather said.

“We’ve also grown in a way that we’re no longer seen as a student center but also a community center,” she said. “It really is a testament that we have reached a population outside the Sample Gates.”