Solon High Schools Asian Culture Club (ACC) hosted a fundraiser the week of April 3 to raise money for St. Jude’s Hospital. The club members decided to sell bubble tea, a popular Asian drink in countries like China and Thailand, so students here could experience a part of Asian culture while raising funds for a worthy cause.

SHS ACC is a club where students can learn about the different aspects of various Asian cultures. Vivian Ren, junior and three year club member, shared what she loves best about ACC.

“We do all sorts of different activities,” Ren said. “We have game days all the time, and we always bring Asian snacks from different backgrounds for people to try out. To me, being in this club is learning about the community’s identity through different things like art, traditions, and people’s beliefs.”

Choosing what product to sell was very important to the club. Senior and three year club member June Fan explained that the club wanted to pick a product to sell that would appeal to students here at SHS who have never experienced or tried Asian food before.

“Because we’re in ACC, we decided to do something that’s not really easy to find here, like chocolate,” Fan said. “We decided to do something more unique, and bubble tea tastes good. Also, some Asian foods can be considered [a little] weird by Americans, but we felt that bubble tea was a bit more [tolerable] to people.”

Along with bubble tea being more appealing, the club members also chose it because it’s very simple to make, and Fan herself knows how to make it.

“Bubble tea is basically made from three components: tea, bubbles and milk,” Fan said. “You just boil the tea bags and add the milk and sugar. I buy bubbles that are already prepared, so you just boil them for about ten minutes and then let them soak in the sugar water.”

As well as embracing Asian culture, the club also helped raise $420 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Senior and four year club member Aarti Raghavachari shared why she felt it was special that ACC was doing this fundraiser to begin with.  

“This is one of the opportunities we have to actually give back to people, and I’ve always thought that giving back to people and helping others is most important no matter what you do for yourself,”  Raghavachari said. “It’s always most important to give back to others. So I’d say that because it’s our first time doing this, we’re very excited to help out at the hospital.”

Raghavachari said she was proud to be involved in a good cause, but she shared what really mattered to her when being involved in this fundraiser.

“Learning about other cultures has always been a part of me, and I’ve always wanted to learn more about other cultures,”  Raghavachari said. “When I attend this club, I’ve learned that we can spread more about our culture to others, and also we can learn more about ourselves. We can expand our own knowledge and learn more about our cultural histories, which I think is what we should all take away.”