Filipino students celebrate heritage

By Gwen Daniels

Published Sept. 25, 2007

Filipino barbecue, flag-decorated cakes and dancing were all abundant during the barbecue celebration as the Filipino Student Association kicked off the year.

About 30 students attended the barbecue on Saturday at Rock Quarry Park.

FSA was founded in 2006 to promote Filipino culture.

This year, FSA hopes to enhance Filipino heritage awareness by incorporating cultural facts into its social events, FSA President Tammy Abaricia said.

Students sampled traditional Filipino barbecue at the cookout. The skewered pork marinated with vinegar, sugar, ketchup, garlic and soy sauce is a very popular recipe in the Philippines, said junior FSA member Alex Tsao.

A game of Capture the Flag also included cultural trivia.

"The two teams are named after modes of transportation in the Philippines: jeepneys and tricycles," Abaricia said.

Abaricia said jeepneys are really big buses with no doors into which as many people as possible cram themselves into, and tricycles are "really, really weird" motorcycles with two little seats. She said tricycles are the Filipino version of a taxi.

The Asian American Association Dance Team gave an impromptu performance during the barbecue. Several FSA members dance for the team, which was founded last year and performs at Asian American conferences across the Midwest.

"We recently signed up to do an in-between act at Homecoming, so look for us there," dance team member Jon Nguyen said.

Junior FSA Co-President Roxanne Lacerna said FSA advocates social issues as well as fellowship between friends. Lacerna has formerly worked for The Maneater.

FSA isn't "just us getting together," she said.

"It's focused on social issues and what it's like to look different than the general mainstream," Lacerna said.

FSA works closely with the Asian American Association, the umbrella organization for the Asian American groups at MU. Junior AAA Secretary Alana Zhu, who attended the barbecue, said she appreciates FSA's goal of promoting Filipino heritage.

"It's nice to have groups to go to for the specific ethnicities," she said. "I want to see generally more members in all the groups, especially FSA."

This spring, FSA and AAA will play host to a conference at MU for Asian American student organizations from colleges across Missouri. The group will also participate in the Midwest Asian American Student Union's Conference later in the year.

FSA welcomes all students to learn about Filipino culture.

"Now, what we're trying to do is build up membership to tell others about what it's like to be Filipino," Lacerna said. "It's awesome to have people of different cultures in our group."