Earlier this month, the Whitney Young Asian American Club (AAC) announced its theme for this year’s annual show, completing a three year trilogy of themes reflecting on Asian-American identities.

The Whitney Young Asian American Club is quite prominent amongst Asian-American teens in Chicago. In the last few year’s their annual 2-night show has sold out, attracting many students from other schools with a showcase of traditional and modern Asian dances, from Chinese flag to Kpop. Aside from the show, club members strive to embrace and learn about culture through dance, and complete art and service projects throughout the year.

Each year, the board of the club picks a theme to inspire the concept of the show and club activities for the year. In 2017 the theme was “Recollection,” and in 2018 the theme was “Aspirations.” Both of these themes were meant for members to reflect on their culture both in terms of the past and present. Now, the 2019 theme was announced to be “Presence,” completing the trilogy of tenses of time. Cassi Chung ‘19, the current president of AAC this year, says that within the trilogy, “this year marks the year of interpreting what we have and being thankful for it. We hope this final step of our three year journey inspires others to appreciate the time we live in right now, be grateful for everyone they are surrounded by, and acknowledge not only their friends and family, but also their own presence in this world today.” Overall, the concept for this theme was inspired by both the concept of being “present” in the moment and by the current breakthroughs Asians and Asian-Americans are making in various industries, specifically the film and music industries.

AAC seems to be gaining momentum each year in terms of publicity and outreach through successful shows. Best of luck to the hard-working board and club members for another great year!