SMU students of all ethnicities gathered to celebrate the beginning of Asian Council’s (AC) Celebrasian month.

With a crowd of over 80 people, AC served Thai and Indian cuisine.

They also held an open-mic for entertainment. The kick-off event was on April 4 at 5:30 p.m. in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Commons.

Celebrasian month is hosted by AC, which includes Indian Student Association (ISA), Korean Student Association (KSA), Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) and East Asian Student Association (EASA).

This month, AC will showcase Asian heritage and raise awareness of Asian culture.

Asian Council not only strives to bring Asian culture to SMU, but also give Asian first-year students a place to feel welcome and a good community.

As a member of Asian Council and as vice president of ISA, Ankita Krishnan hopes to “host events for the whole [SMU] community and welcome freshmen into the community.”

Jae Suh, a first-year involved with AC, said that SMU is a “different environment for Asians because there are not a lot of Asians, and Asian Council is a nice place to feel comfortable.”

He is very involved in Asian Council, but he also has a diverse group of friends both inside and outside of AC.

Evan Kohn, another first-year in Asian Council, described AC as a good place to network, make friends and “feel really welcomed.”

When asked about the Celebrasian Kick-off Event, Kohn said, “It’s pretty cool that there are a lot of non-Asians. AC is growing in size.”

With Celebrasian month and other events in the future, Asian Council invites SMU students to come out and experience Asian culture and join the Asian community of SMU.

People of all cultures and backgrounds are welcome.

The next event of Celebrasian month is “An Introduction to Asian-American Literature and Culture,” with Dr. Julia Lee, a professor from the University of Texas at Austin.

She will lead a discussion on Asian and Asian-American studies on Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Hughes Trigg Promenade.