The Asian American Student Association at UGA was named “Organization of the Year” during the 21st annual H. Gordon and Francis S. Davis Student Organization Achievement and Recognition Awards, given out April 12 at the Tate Student Center. The SOAR Awards celebrate the accomplishments of student organizations at the University of Georgia.
The Asian American Student Association is a registered student organization that focuses on developing unity within the Asian American student community on campus. AASA strives to promote the ideals of multiculturalism and create more connections among their members by hosting large events such as their Lunar New Year Celebration and APIDA Night Market.
This year, the Asian American Student Association had one goal in mind: to rebuild a fragmented community to recover from the social consequences of COVID-19 such as the uptick of hate crimes against Asian Americans. Not only did they accomplish unifying Asian American students, but they also worked alongside other student organizations.
The AASA holds an annual “Identity General Body Meeting” where this year they partnered with the Hispanic Student Association and the Indian Cultural Exchange. Nearly 300 members collectively participated in the meeting. Through engaging activities, students were able to express their feelings in tandem to their held identity. They were also able to have large scale discussions on their own cultures and issues that they each face being a college student.
In addition to the Organization of the Year Award, the AASA along with HSA and ICE were also all awarded the Organizational Collaboration Award.
Other award categories and their recipients are:
- Most Innovative Program: Black Male Leadership Society for taking its “Talk with BMLS” program to new heights by inviting other student organizations.
- Organizational Improvement: Psi Chi the National Honor Society in Psychology for assessing the needs of their general body by reimplementing general body meetings featuring guest speakers, adding on professional development opportunities, and hosting more social events for their members.
- Organizational Collaboration: Asian American Student Association, Indian Cultural Exchange, and Hispanic Student Association for co-hosting their “identity general body meeting.”
- Outstanding Campus Event (Small): Dodd Ambassadors for organizing the Dodd market, a free opportunity for students to sell their art while inviting the UGA and Athens community to engage with students.
- Outstanding Campus Event (Large): Serve UGA for its partnership this last fall with more than 20 sites, 1,013 volunteers, and a total of 2,533 hours of service.
- Outstanding New Organization: Capture! for not only spearheading the club and hosting industry guest photographers, but also for partnering with other organizations to provide photos.
- Commitment to Social Justice: Period Project at UGA for their Project Red initiative that looks to install free menstrual product dispensers throughout UGA’s all-gender bathrooms with the hopes of ending period poverty and stigma.