001[music] >> Hi, my name is Margaret Chung. I'm the principal at ACC. And what does AAPI mean to me? It's um really a celebration of our heritage and understanding that not only >> [music] >> are we of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage, but we're a part of the fabric of America. And who we are is who we all are in our shared heritage. I'm so grateful that we are celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander month. And [music] one thing I enjoy about Chinese heritage is that celebrating New Year's cuz we get rid of um red envelopes and we get to celebrate it with all of our family. I'm Vietnamese and AAPI means appreciating my culture and recognizing my family members who sacrificed so much for me to be here. I really appreciate this month because of
002the times where I get to show people my culture. To me, AAPI month represents uh understanding and honoring the sacrifice and resilience of my relatives, my grandfather, while also understanding the unique challenges and experience of being mixed race in America. Um and also just understanding and appreciating my culture while also being able to celebrate and inform other people about it. My family's from South Africa, but my ancestors are from India. And I think being Asian to me is about the culture, a lot about the food. API month to me means that I can express my culture and share it with other people to honor um my relatives who came here from Taiwan and China. Something I love about Filipino culture is celebrating Christmas with my family out in California. And one of my favorite dishes
003that my grandma cooks for us is kare-kare, which is a Filipino oxtail stew, which is super delicious. I like to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander month cuz I share my Chinese culture >> [music] >> on New Year's by lighting lanterns up into the sky and hoping for good luck and spreading energy. Hi, I'm Melissa Bridgers and I am [music] a sixth grade science teacher at Gunston Middle School. One thing that I really appreciated about AAPI month is being able to see so many students at this particular school that represent the Asian diaspora. When I was growing up in school, I was one [music] of very few Asian students. So, seeing a lot of students at this school that have similar cultural values and practices as me has been really wonderful.