Community Service Learning/Internships

AA S 301 is one of the only courses in the nation devoted to studying issues concerning Asian Americans of mixed racial and ethnic heritages. Taught by Dr. Wei Ming Dariotis, students have produced picture books that have been donated as a fundraiser at a Mixed Heritage and Transracial Adoptee Children’s Book Fair. Through the narratives reflected in these picture books, Asian American children of mixed racial and ethnic heritages can see themselves represented, which helps to cultivate a sense of belonging and encourages language skill development.

• All the Beautiful Colors
• The Etiquette of Sushi
• Happie’s Food Adventure
• I Am Pacific Ocean
• SuperHEROtage
• Temari and Joseph’s Talent Show
• Tiffany’s Monstrous Scare
• When Ash Met Sally: A Carnival of Culture
• Who to Show, What to Tell
• Yuki and Mai’s Mighty Mixed Buzz

The AAS Department at SF State, in collaboration with TACT, the Square and Circle Club and the SF Public Library, strives to educate the general public about APIA cultural, historical and literary contributions to American society. AA S 512 students wrote biographical profiles of prominent APIAs that are catered toward the reading levels of children. After researching the historical streets and public spaces in San Francisco, they produced a map of “APIA Stars,” with each star representing a site on San Francisco’s map. Through this multi-collaborative approach, these students have empowered public institutions, such as the SF public library, to advocate for and engage in more cultural events to educate public audiences at a younger age. By focusing on the contributions of pioneering APIAs, the general public can learn to dismantle harmful and superficial stereotypes painted and perpetuated by the mass media.

• Link to APIA Biography Project

Refugees from Burma and Bhutan, Mongolian undocumented families and Bayview Hunter’s Point residents often face post-resettlement challenges, including access to employment and healthcare. AAS 595 students work with local organizations, such as Burma Refugee Family Network (BRFN), to host health fairs and conduct needs assessments for diverse communities in the Bay Area. The results from these projects highlight the importance of ethnic heterogeneity in identifying barriers to accessing essential services, and have produced reports that have been used for strategic planning, grant writing and community education. Non-profit organizations have leveraged these findings to raise over $350,000 in funds. In addition, the results have also helped reform policies to implement more effective evidence-based interventions addressing health disparities in marginalized communities, as well as strengthen the social ties with these organizations for the continuation of these projects.

• Burma Refugee Families & Newcomers 
• View Crisis to Community Development Report 

The Nichi Bei Foundation has led more than 2,000 people on five Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimages, reconnecting the community to the forgotten legacy at the former Immigration Station, where up to 85,000 persons of Japanese descent were detained between 1910 and 1940. Launched in 2014, the Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage reconnects participants to their family legacies with the help of partners such as the California Genealogical Society. Held in partnership with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and the National Japanese American Historical Society, the pilgrimage also honors those who rediscovered the forgotten Immigration Station barracks in the 1970s, and those who took up the preservation efforts shortly thereafter. In the 2024 pilgrimage, AAS 681 partnered with NichiBei Foundation to provide support for the pilgrimage. Students directed participants to the registration table, loaded and unloaded and passed out lunch, assisted speakers by holding up posters for displayed, completed setup and breakdown of chairs, and documented the experience through photography. For many AAS 681 student volunteers, this was also their first time visiting Angel Island and learning first-hand the history of the barracks. As AAS 681 intern Jewel De Fremery reflected, pilgrimages “aim to strengthen community ties through empowerment via the dispersal of knowledge. In organizing an event at this historic location and hosting a genealogy booth so people could trace their family histories, AAS 681 and Nichi Bei enabled many people to discover previously unknown information, creating personal and community ties through mutual learning.”