Student Voices: Joining an Affinity Group Showed Me I Didn’t Have to Choose Between Identities

Alexander C. is a senior at Student Leadership Network’s CBI partner school, East Side Community High School.

Student Voices: Joining an Asian student group showed me I didn’t have to choose between my Chinese and American identities
By Alexander C.
Originally published on Chalkbeat on December 11, 2023

I used to be skeptical of affinity groups. Now, I’m the president of my high school’s Asian Student Association.

When I was five months old, my family moved from New Jersey to Shanghai, China, leading my childhood to be defined by a hybrid of two distinct identities: Chinese and American.

When I was 10, my family decided to move back to the U.S. and live in New York. It was a massive personal and social shift for me.

In the first few weeks of high school, one of my Asian teachers asked me to join the Asian Student Association. Her invitation was the first time I had encountered the idea of an affinity group. At first, I rejected the idea: I imagined feeling like I was in an echo chamber. What benefits could there be from isolating myself from one group to dwell in another?

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