An experience promoting an inclusive environment and what you would bring to creating a welcoming, global community at Darden. (300 words)
An experience promoting an inclusive environment and what you would bring to creating a welcoming, global community at Darden
I created an inclusive environment at York University when I helped plan the Chinese Student Association’s Mid‐Autumn Festival Banquet. The Chinese Student Association is the largest Asian affinity group at the school, and while most members are Chinese American, students of all backgrounds attend the club’s events. One of the club’s biggest events celebrates the Mid‐Autumn Festival, the rough equivalent of Thanksgiving for East Asian cultures. Although I am Malaysian, many of my friends are Chinese-Canadian and active in the club, so I was happy to bring my vendor management experience from leading another Asian business club, Stratosphere, to help plan the festivities.
Since many Asian cultures would be participating in the celebration, I made sure that the event would be welcoming to all by having foods representing each of the cultures. Mooncakes, a sweet pastry common to Chinese and Vietnamese cultures, are the mainstay for the festival and we sourced them from a local Chinese baker. Some Asian cultures do not celebrate the festival by eating mooncakes, so I purchased an array of festival foods, including japchae, bulgogi, and jeon from a Korean restaurant in Seaton Village, Toronto's "Koreatown," along with Northern‐Chinese style dumplings. About 500 students attended the festival, representing all the East Asian affinity clubs and the campus at large.
I will bring my experience of promoting a diverse, welcoming event to the Asia Business Club at Darden. Through my conversations with Fred Lee and Mary Kwan, leaders of the club, I learned that the Asia Business Club hosts a popular Lunar New Year event, much like the Mid‐Autumn Festival Celebrations at York University, along with Asia Week and an “Around Asia” dinner. I look forward to taking part in Darden’s global community by planning and attending these events for my classmates at the program.