Clubs are considered something quite important to many students since they bring so many people together. A club that hopes to bring many students into one organization , the Asian Student Association, has gotten started and hopes to accomplish bringing fellow peers in one group.

With the wide range of diversity in schools, also comes the range in clubs for those groups to meet. Even though organizations for specific groups are created for that group, all sorts of people join to learn different cultures. Sophomore, Nannapas Boonsungnearn, wants to earn more knowledge from the ASA.

“My friend is the president of the club and he asked me to join. After I joined the club, I hoped to learn about the different cultures. I also hope to socialize with a lot of people and make good friends,” stated Boonsungnearn.

At Lake Ridge, the Asian Student Association was formerly known as the Vietnamese Student Association. This led to a lot of the students in the club being Vietnamese, but since the name change and promotions on social media, more students have joined. Senior, Andrew Ninh, has been in ASA since it was known as VSA and enjoys seeing how things have changed.

“I’ve been in ASA for four years now. It’s not really all that different besides that there are a lot of people. I like that because it kind of brings the whole community of the school together,” stated Ninh.

Every club needs people in charge in order to keep the club going and organized. However, it is a lot of work to keep it all going. The idea of allowing everyone to have fun is now at great importance. President, Skyler Nguyen, enjoys being president despite the stress that comes with it.

“Being president is super fun. It is a little stressful trying to pertain to everyone, but I sure do love it. Creating ideas and putting them into effect and watching people have a great time is honestly one of the best feelings to experience,” stated Nguyen.

With the importance of making sure everyone has fun, not only does the president worry about it, but so does the party captain. Making sure such a large group of people are enjoying themselves can be difficult, but some agree that it is best to go week by week. Party captain, Alex Nguyen, knows how to get people excited about the activities done in the club.

“When you’re all in high school, you all kind of know what high school kids like to do for fun, so then you incorporate Asian culture into it. You get a ton of people who want to do this fun thing and learn about Asian culture as a side effect. Like right now, there’s a big thing that we’re trying to get planned, which is to organize a big event with the ASA from some other schools,” stated Nguyen.

President Nguyen is happy to see the many people that joined, but does acknowledge that there are a few downsides. Keeping people entertained is not the only thing that is kept in mind, there are also some other concerns. Besides that, the more people involved, the more the club begins to shine.

“It’s good to see so many people. It’s just more fun whenever there’s more people, we start being able to do things with groups. It’s a good time. One of the downsides is when we do food. We can’t get it to everyone, and we want everyone to try food because it’s having everyone get to know our culture and our foods. Additionally, more people means we have to have a broader spectrum, something that keeps everyone interested, so playing games and things like that. The past ASA, it would be like, let’s make this or let’s bake which isn’t gonna pertain to everyone’s interests and I want to make sure to pertain to everyone’s interests,” stated Nguyen.

The ASA has been around Lake Ridge for a long time and was used as a place for Asian and non-Asian students to gather together and enjoy time with each other. When the original sponsor, Mr. Ngo left Lake Ridge, many students worried about what would happen with ASA. This led to AP European History teacher, Brandon Austin, sponsoring the club.

“The ASA club did not have a sponsor this year after Mr Ngo left, and Mr. Ngo is one of my favorite people on the planet. I respect and admire him and I wanted to make sure that they had someone who would take care of them, even though I’m a little over involved in other things, I was happy to do it because of my appreciation for Mr. Ngo and the legacy he left. That’s a club that deserves a sponsor, the people who run the club are solid kids with a solid plan that actually care about what they do,” stated Austin.

Despite the year just beginning, many students have decided to participate in the club. ASA has become a very important club to many Lake Ridge students as it became a place to learn new things and spend time with their friends.