On an average day in the Office of Student Engagement and Belonging (SEB), Amy Nguyen will usually start off by talking to her boss and SEB student program coordinator Iván Castillo about any upcoming things they need to focus on.
“(Ivan and I) then dive into each project and just go from there,” Nguyen said. “We work in the same office so whenever it’s needed, we just bounce ideas off of each other.”
Castillo and Nguyen worked closely on the collaboration process for the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) internship role, a role Nguyen now holds.
“I just felt like the APIDA community is very separated from different communities here on campus, and that there is a lack of resources and representation for them,” Nguyen said. “You can’t really do effective programming if there’s not a voice or an individual actually representing what you’re doing.”
Nguyen created the initial proposal to present to the Student Government Association (SGA) for the role, and then worked to get it accepted. During the proposal process, Nguyen looked at universities in Texas and along the West Coast with similar programs for a guide on how Wichita State’s should function.
“(I wanted to see) how they create an effective space for students, and what those spaces look like at even bigger universities,” Nguyen said.
Her role as an intern is to assist in programming for events and community efforts for the Asian community on campus. Nguyen will help within SEB and also support the APIDA Ignite group. As a new support group, having their first session in 2024, APIDA Ignite aims to help students develop professional, social and cultural skills for transitioning into life after college.
One of the initiatives Nguyen and Castillo have been working on together is to draft a proposal for an APIDA magazine at WSU, which has been approved by SGA and will be funded by SEB.
They plan for the first issue to highlight what it means to be an APIDA individual at Wichita State. Student submissions are open until Jan. 25.
“We’re going to be receiving submissions from APIDA students on campus, whether that is their personal story, art pieces, reviews (or) local business highlights and turning it into a physical magazine that will launch once per semester,” Nguyen said. “Hopefully, once those go well, we could reach out to the Hispanic community, the Black community, first gen community as well so that they could get an issue going to represent their population as well.”
Students interested in learning more about APIDA internship position or the APIDA magazine can visit the SEB office in the Rhatigan Student Center room 216.
They can also reach out to Castillo at [email protected] or Nguyen at [email protected].