Asian Council makes most of Friday 13th

Sixty-eight students, including 50 first-years, set out for Asian Council’s annual leadership retreat Friday, despite the ominous date. The retreat, held this year at the Riverbend Retreat Center in Glen Rose, Texas, was organized to help build leadership skills and introduce first-years to the organizations within Asian Council and the upperclassmen who run them.

“This is Asian Council’s fourth year as a chartered organization,” Asian Council adviser Karen Click said. “The Asian Council comes together to represent all the diverse cultures within the Asian-American community and plans events throughout the year to connect students at SMU. The retreat was the first of these events, and it was aimed at first-years, for the purpose of uniting the community.”

At the two-day retreat, students took part in spirit-building activities like the “wall of faith” to strengthen leadership skills. In “the wall of faith” students fall backwards off a wall into the hands of other students. Other activities included an obstacle course, a scavenger hunt and a ropes course.

Students representing the Indian Student Association, the Vietnamese Student Association, the East Asian Student Association, the Iranian Student Academic and Cultural Organization, the Asian American Senator and the Program Council Asian Cultural Committee attended the conference.

Asian Council’s Vice Chairman, My-Linh Lai was extremely pleased with the turnout.

“The first-years that attended were eager to meet people and become involved in the SMU community,” she said. “These students are already showing leaderships skills and are going to be the Asian leaders of tomorrow.”

The Asian Council was excited to have Student Body President Dustin Odham and Student Body Secretary Thomas Kincaid share in the retreat Saturday morning. Odham and Kincaid took the opportunity to meet many of the first-years and transfers in attendance and helped celebrate the SMU spirit through the SMU Shuffle, the Varsity, and the Call to the Horses.

“The Asian Council has top-notch programs and some of the most involved students on campus,” Odham said. “I was thrilled to see so many students take time out from one of their first weekends this fall to go to this retreat and make a difference on campus.”

Asian Council will be involved in homecoming activities and has also planned an Asian Parents Dinner for Nov. 3. Students can find out more about the Asian Council, its subsidiaries and their activities by visiting http://people.smu.edu/ac