Maxx Arguilla and Herdeline Ardoña found a way to bring Filipino graduate students together at UCI
- Last fall, Professors Maxx Arguilla of the UC Irvine Department of Chemistry and
Herdeline “Digs” Ardoña of the UCI Samueli School of Engineering had a mission: find a way to foster community
among Filipino graduate students at UCI.
How they might do that, though, wasn’t immediately clear.
But then they remembered something that unites Filipinos: food. Food is such a unifying
force in the Philippines that, according to Arguilla, there’s more than one way the
people there ask a Filipino how they’re doing. “Instead of asking ‘How are you?’”
Arguilla said, “We customarily ask ‘Have you eaten?’ or ‘Are you hungry?’”
The pieces fell into place, and the two hosted about 10 UCI graduate students at their
home last October where everyone dined and connected over traditional dishes like
lechon, pancit bihon and sisig.
“Our motivation for organizing these gatherings is simple,” said Ardoña. “Having been
Filipino graduate students ourselves – especially in places where there aren’t many
– we envisioned these gatherings providing a venue that catalyzes community-building
amongst our few UCI graduate students with Filipino heritage.”
The night was a hit: students from all corners of campus – including chemistry, chemical
engineering, computer science, neuroscience, electrical engineering and cognitive
sciences – connected in a way where “everyone felt as if they knew each other all
along,” Ardoña said.
The next gathering is in June, and this time Arguilla and Ardoña expect about 15 students
to attend, and they encourage those who may be interested in joining the gatherings
to reach out to them directly. “We hope to continue these gatherings and to reach
more graduate students with Filipino heritage at UCI,” said Arguilla.
- Lucas Van Wyk Joel, UCI Physical Sciences