Pokemon trainers become masters at ASC festival
Students color pictures of various Pokemon as part of the Asian Student Conference’s Pokemon festival on Wednesday in the RSC. Participants at the event made their way through different stations to collect all eight gym badges and become a Pokemon Master.
In the classic games, Pokemon hide in tall grass. But at the Asian Student Conference’s Pokemon Festival, they were on full display.
The ASC hosted the festival on Wednesday afternoon in the Rhatigan Student Center. Participating students made their way through eight Pokemon- related tasks — a nod to the eight badges trainers must collect in the games — and were then named Pokemon masters.
Activities included coloring pictures of starter Pokemon, a game of “Who’s That Pokemon?” — in which participants guessed the name of Pokemon based on their silhouette — and “catching” a stuffed Pokémon with a pokeball.
The festival was a first for the ASC and turned out to be a hit, but it was not the first Pokemon-related event on campus.
Tiffany Dang, freshman, tosses a plush pokeball at a “wild pokemon” on Wednesday in the RSC. This station was meant to simulate how players catch Pokemon in the video games.
In 2016, the Student Activities Council held a similar event. Richy Thatch, a member of the ASC and event coordinator, said he wanted to revamp that event this year to provide some fun for students as they prepare for finals.
Jordan Cao, a volunteer at the event, said the Pokemon theme is culturally significant.
“For many people in the Asian American community, Pokemon was a game that we grew up playing,” Cao said. “It really brings back a lot of nostalgic feelings and memories when we’re participating in these types of events.”
The festival was held as part of the ASC’s Asian Student Carnival, which entailed a series of events held on campus this week. The week began with a fundraiser on Monday that has continued through each event, culminating at the ASC’s fourth annual Friendsgiving.
The carnival was devised to replace the ASC’s Date Auction, which had its 14th and final auction last November. While
the event made plenty of money, Thatch said the ASC didn’t want to perpetrate any negative concepts.
“We wanted to make a change for the better, so we decided to end the process of it,” he said.
Although the carnival didn’t bring in as many funds, Thatch said it was a better way to give back to the community.
Cao echoed that sentiment.
“It’s really fun engaging with the Wichita State University community, especially people that I wouldn’t engage with typically. So having an event like this that really provides a facet for me to interact with complete strangers is really exciting for me.”
