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William Alba

From the Inside: APAs dish the dirt on their own schools

By Carlie Chiu and
Ji Hyun Lim
AsianWeek

William Alba
Tutor
St. John’s College
Santa Fe, N.M.

Rather than abiding by the standard curriculum of lectures and professors, St. John’s College embraces another standpoint with no lecture courses, no textbooks, no written finals, no departments or so-called professors. As opposed to professors, St. John’s refers to the teaching members of the school as tutors. These tutors lead class in a seminar-style discussion while learning new things from their students.

Alba believes that the best aspect about St. John’s is that the students learn how to become engaged with some of the most extraordinary ideas anyone has ever thought of, by studying old classics from the great philosophers such as Homer, Sophocles and Plato. Its curriculum consists of four years of mathematics, three years of science, two years of ancient Greek, two years of French and a year of music. With two campuses — one in Santa Fe and one in Annapolis, Md. — St. John’s holds the reputation of being like no other school.

Jessica Osaki
Graduate of Sewanee College
The University of the South
Sewanee, Tenn.

Jessica Osaki, a recent graduate from the University of the South, recalled a total of three APAs in her class. But since then, there has been an increase in the enrollment of APAs with Sewanee increasing their recruitment efforts outside of the South.

Osaki was a very active student involved in numerous activities around campus. Very active in the admissions office, Osaki was also a founding member of the Kappa Omega sorority.

The people was what made it a difference for Osaki in her college experience at Sewanee. “If I had my entire college application experience again, I would have applied to Sewanee in the early decision process,” said Osaki. Coming from Pasadena, Calif., made Tennessee a big change for Osaki since she had never been to the South.

“Sewanee was a unique place because it is on top of a mountain and 45 minutes away from the city,” Osaki said. “The main reason I applied was because I am Episcopalian and that [is] the denomination of the school. During my senior year in high school, I had the opportunity to visit the school twice."

Recently, Sewanee has added Asian American studies as a major in the curriculum, which is a big step up. “The funniest part is when I go home to California, my parents and friends tell me I have a Southern accent,” remarked Osaki.

Also during Osaki’s four years at Sewanee, she coordinated a lecture on the Japanese internment entitled “America’s Concentration Camps.”

“I hope that in the future the school will start to plan more programs that are directed at Asian Americans, and incorporate the students into the minority programming, more so then they are now,” said Osaki.

Brian Choi-Dea

University of California, Irvine is ranked as the tenth best public national university in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report. Located in Southern California, many students opt to attend the university due to the well-known professors and innovative programs. It not only offers great programs in biological sciences, but also in the arts.

Brian Choi-Dea, a sophomore at UC Irvine, described his first year at the university as a positive one. “The campus is not too big and not too small, and I like it because of the subtle change from high school, and it’s easy to meet people,” said Choi-Dea.

APA students need not worry about finding others of their kind — Irvine is about 54 percent APA. There are many clubs and extracurricular activities that satisfy different interests of all sorts. The Filipino Club puts on cultural shows along with Jadaiko, which specializes in Taiko drumming. There are also many ethnic clubs, along with intramural sports, 17 fraternities and 13 sororities on campus.

“With the campus being built only approximately 30 years ago, the university maintains a clean environment, and everything is in good condition,” Choi-Dea observed. Being satisfied with the education provided at UC Irvine, Choi-Dea acknowledged that his academic advisor provides him with the aid necessary to succeed at Irvine.

“It was a hard year, but I liked meeting the people and I learned a lot,” Choi-Dea remarked.

Hyong Rhew
Professor
Reed College
Portland, Ore.

Korean American Professor Hyong Rhew may be the only APA face on the teaching staff of Reed College, but his presence is much noted. He’s been teaching Chinese literature, intellectual history, language and humanities for the past five years in a school with 1,200 students.

Though he admits that APA presence is sparse at Reed College, with APAs making up just 5 percent, outreach by the school is active. “Achieving diversity in student body is often approached as a goal in itself, but I think about it as an important means of improving educational environment,” Rhew said. “We want challenges to our thinking, and the exposure to students of diverse backgrounds can be a refreshing source of such challenges.”

Currently, Reed does not offer Asian American studies courses or majors.

“The tradition of this college of being white may discourage some minority people from coming,” commented Rhew, “[but] it also means we’re actually on the right path to increase the percentage of minority people.”

Rhew points out that structural changes in the curriculum, which include a directed and focused look at East Asian studies, would attract more APAs to attend. Reed College, with 120 faculty members, has seven instructors who teach classical Chinese literature, modern Chinese literature, Chinese history and religion, and Chinese anthropology.

“Chinese studies in this campus is very coherent, extensive,” Rhew said. “If you’re talking about 5 percent of the faculty focusing on China, that’s a significant commitment.”

He added, “It’s a good place … Though we don’t have full success in terms of attracting all minority people, at least we’re making the right moves towards achieving diversity for the right reasons.”