Being  part of Roswell High School’s Asian population of roughly 3% in a school with over 2,000 students can feel extremely alienating. However, the AAPI Club attempts to combat the feeling of otherness that stems from this with monthly meetings  every third Thursday.

Zeenat and Jannat Ahmed started this club last year with Ms. Simpson as its sponsor to achieve their goal of bringing Roswell High School’s rather small Asian community together.

“I mean, I felt like we were more or less divided. And I didn’t want us to become divided and more afraid of embracing our cultural origins,” Jannat said. “Additionally, I want us to take pride in the fact that we’re Asian! Celebrating Asian excellence is the most important.”

Of course, gaining traction for a recently made club is no easy task, especially  when the target audience is a small pool. Clubs like Black Student Union and HOPE are much bigger identity-based clubs with more reach due to their bigger crowd.

“We encourage non-Asians to come, but I do feel that there is a large misconception of what Asia and Asians are like. But I want to be able to encourage everyone to come. I want you to feel welcomed and most importantly appreciated,” she said.

Despite the struggles of standing apart and uniting as a community, the AAPI Club has made significant progress from its creation. “I felt like people came to our club at first just for jokes and a few laughs, but now, people are generally more interested in forming a community. In a world that looks at us as a ‘model minority’, we pride ourselves on embracing what makes us different and unique.”

What Jannat and Zeenat have achieved so far is remarkable. The mere act  of taking the initiative to create a sense of unity for a group of people who may not have been able to connect with one another otherwise is daring.