Students battle for boba
By Marissa Spencer
Rider’s Asian American Student Association held its semiannual “Boba Night” April 11 in the Bart Luedeke Center’s Cavalla Room at 6:30 p.m. The Asian American Student Association is a division of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion on campus.
The CDI is home to a plethora of on-campus organizations, including identity, ethnicity, gender, religious and other affinity-based groups. By creating a more equitable school environment through its representative chapters and events, the CDI promotes diverse connections for students.
AASA strives to enhance cultural understanding between Asian American students and those of other nationalities.
“Boba Night” began with the eager guests being greeted by the ambiance of K-pop tunes from groups such as BTS and Blackpink blaring throughout the conference room.
As the students shuffled in, board games were provided to up the ante for what AASA had in store later on in the night. AASA provided boba tea of the RSVP’d students’ choice from downtown Princeton’s Kung Fu Tea on Nassau Street.
In order for the guests to receive their boba, they engaged in a friendly competition. The games began with a the-floor-is-lava challenge. The guests were divided into two competing teams to see who could make the trek along the conference room on borrowed time.
The teams were given a limited amount of “paper” steps to make their way to the finish line. If the piece got damaged, the group had to start over. All players on each team had to make their way across the room successfully to take home the prize. After a close call towards the finish line, team number two took home the victory.
The winners then enjoyed their delicacies as the remaining team finished. After this challenge, guests enjoyed infinite rounds of “boba pong,” Monopoly, and word riddle games with their boba teas in hand.
President of AASA, junior psychology major Michelle Velazquez, talked about their passion for the club and its mission to promote interest on campus.
“We have ‘Boba Night’ every semester,” exclaimed Velazquez when describing the popularity of the event. “It’s my favorite event,” they added, eager to uphold this occasion again.
Overseeing a group of culturally passionate individuals is no easy feat. Balancing classes, promoting events and regularly holding and attending meetings can be daunting for a college student.
“It was really scary at first,” said Velazquez upon inquiry about the chapter’s executive board elections. “I knew I had to step up to the job,” they added.
“Boba Night” may be the club’s most anticipated and revived event, but Velazquez and the other e-board members plan to continuously promote their mission within the Rider community by advocating for cultural education through an array of events coming to campus in the near future.
Rider students can join AASA by contacting a member of the board or attending the next event. Rider’s AASA chapter can be found on social media platforms under the username: Rider_AASA.
