Filipino-American Student Organization

I popped my head into the Filipino American Student Organization event at Chico State in Sylvester’s Café on Friday March 28, 2008. There were tables set up in a dinner-style fashion, with many attendees. I could point out the members of FASO by their distinct Filipino attire there were asked to wear. I was quickly spoken to and invited to have a seat at one of the tables. Not knowing it was going to be a full on dinner event I politely denied the offer and sat in the back of the room where I could stand if I so pleased. (After being in class from 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening, sitting down for another speaker isn’t really what I had on my mind.)

The event began with drinks, and later went into a power point presentation, created by John, and given by president and vice president, Ted and Joanne. The presentation discussed the group’s foundation and a bit of the Filipino culture. The group is one of Chico’s oldest student organizations, created in Spring of 1994. Their goal is to educate the community about their culture and welcomes everyone into their organization. One of their goals for this year is fund raising, which this event was held with the intentions of. The members of FASO invited students to come and try one of their native foods, Lumpia. It is a Filipino egg roll, meat or vegetable. I didn’t actually try it, but it looked very much like a egg roll most of us are seeing, except a bit larger.

The other part of the presentation involved a native dance that involves dancers and sets of bamboo sticks. The dancers move their feet very quickly in and out of the bamboo sticks, interpreting a native bird to their country. The dance was very fun to watch, high energy and involved a dancing pair and a pair that held and banged the bamboo sticks. I was hoping for more dancing, but as one of the members told me, they didn’t want to bore anyone, after all, everyone came for the food. The presentation ended with the members encouraging us to purchase Lumpia…after all, it was for a good cause. :)