Seminole High School’s Asian Student Association (ASA) is a club made to celebrate various cultures in Asia including the north, south, east, and west. Allowing peers to represent and learn more about all Asian cultures. During these meetings, the cultural research officers put together a presentation on the countries featured that week and educate ASA members about cultural foods, history, and art. So far this year, ASA has covered India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In past years, the officers also provided food from the selected countries, but social distancing has removed that aspect of the club this school year. ASA also introduces cultural experience through movie nights and allows its members to attend the Asian Student Association Ball, normally held in September. However, with the pandemic, the ASA Ball will not be taking place this year.

Amidst the pandemic, ASA continues the movie night traditions. This year, the movie night was planned around Halloween, on the meeting of Oct. 23rd, to incorporate the club’s goal of cultural education and the festivities of Halloween. This Halloween, some people have been celebrating safely at home, while some went to large gatherings. ASA members wanted to enjoy Halloween while remaining safe, and opted for a movie night to engage ASA members in a spooky, yet sanitary, event. Despite the pandemic, ASA has been taking measures to continue the club’s activities in the safest way possible.

The President of ASA, Chloe Sakr, says, “We wanted to host a movie night for ASA because we wanted a virtual activity where everyone could be engaged and involved.”

The officers and members were able to stream the movie through Netflix Party, a tool used to stream movies and shows on Netflix with friends. A web link was sent to those who wanted to participate, and they were able to watch the movie and talk in the chat box.

Sakr adds that “We used the platform Netflix Party for those who have Netflix accounts and also showed the movie on our Webex call for anyone who didn’t have access to Netflix.”

The movie selected was “#Alive”, a South Korean zombie movie released in 2020. You might be familiar with “Train to Busan”, another hit South Korean zombie film released in 2016. Both movies feature zombies, but the storyline for “#Alive” involves a man trapped in his apartment alone with little food in a zombie apocalypse, whereas “Train to Busan” has more characters actively running and fighting zombies to get to a safe location..

Shriya Doranala, an officer for the ASA, says, “We wanted to have members have fun while doing an activity, and we thought that “#Alive” fits the theme of Halloween. It’s something we hoped everyone would enjoy.”

Since ASA usually does in-person activities with food being the main excitement at these meetings, making sure the club stays active during a time that enforced social distancing is critical to their impact on campus.

Doranala thinks, “SHS should do activities like this in order to stimulate interaction between members, have fun activities, and have clubs be a stress reliever to students instead of a stress inducer.”

Clubs provide relaxation, fun, as well as a space to engage in ideas that students are passionate about. Hopefully, more clubs at SHS open up new possibilities to continue their activities virtually during the pandemic to make sure students can still have the high school experience of participating in clubs.