Council for Asian Student Leaders recognizes student involvement

At the University of Colorado Denver, the Council for Asian Student Leaders (CASL) was established as as an organization to help the Asian-American cultural club leaders get together and develop a sense community.

“We are striving to make CASL a leadership development program to help our Asian American students gain professional development skills, as well as connect with community and campus leaders and role models,” said Soyon Bueno, Program Director of Asian American Student Services at University of Colorado Denver.

On Dec. 12, CASL gave 25 students awards for their active participation in the past semester. CASL serves as vehicle for student leaders to get together once a month to connect with each other, share successes and challenges of being a leader or a student and also gain professional development skills. Currently, eight Asian/Asian American cultural clubs are involved in CASL: Asian Student Alliance, Ethnic Studies Club, Hawaii Club of Auraria, Indian Student Association, Intercultural Club of Beijing, Korea Club of Auraria (newly formed this year), South Asian Student Association, and Vietnamese Student Association.

“There is a need for CASL because CU Denver has large populations of Asian American students and has one of the largest number of Asian cultural organizations campus,” said Bueno.

Next semester, the student clubs will be planning cultural, educational and social events in celebration of Asian American Pacific
Islander Heritage month. However, at CU Denver students will celebrate Asian American Heritage month throughout the whole semester. Here is a sneak peek at the upcoming events for CASL members and the Asian American Student Services Office sponsored events. CASL meetings will be every second Thursday of the month starting in February.

• March 6 and 7 – Corky Lee, the renown Asian-American photographer will give a presentation, gallery showing and reception of at the Anschutz Medical Campus Library.
• April 1, 2014 – Diversity Professional Development Networking Event is a collaboration among CU Denver, MSU and business and professional organizations in Denver.
• April 19, 2014 – Hawaii Club of Auraria Luau will present their annual luau.
• April 19, 2014 – Hmong Culture Night will be hosted by the Hmong Student Association of Colorado.
• April 25, 2014 – Lee Mun Wah, the renown Chinese-American film director and master diversity trainer, will facilitate a discussion called “An Unfinished Conversation” and show his film, “If These Walls Could Talk”.

Bueno concludes that “the Asian American Student Services Office is pleased at the momentum of our student club organizations in showcasing the diversity of the Asian culture on campus.”