Students at UPrep are free to attend whichever affinity group they identify with, but some identify with more than one, making it difficult to decide which group to participate in.
There are currently 11 affinity groups running, including the Asian Pacific Islander Student Union (APISU), Queer Student Union (QSU) and Black Student Union (BSU).
Freshman West Wang is a member of both APISU and the Multiracial Student Association, and has made peace with the many facets of his identity.
“I’m very multicultural and multi-ethnic, and I’ve been surrounded by people from all over the world for my whole life,” Wang said.
Although APISU and the Multiracial Student Association’s schedules don’t conflict, other affinity groups do, according to senior Kiana Warren. She is a member of the Multiracial Student Association, APISU and the Women’s Affinity Group.
“They sometimes jumble up, and they’ll overlap each other, especially surrounding social justice week, they all start meeting a little bit more often,” Warren said.
Warren finds it difficult to choose which affinity space to attend, and she finds it more challenging to connect with the other members of the Multiracial Student Association. On the other hand, when she visits APISU, she feels only partly recognized.
“I’m only half Asian, so I only feel half connected,” Warren said.
Upper School History teacher Cindy Chavez is an advisor of the Latin Student Union (LSU) and Queer Student Union (QSU), and believes the conflict of schedules and identities means that different facets of a person’s identity may be more or less present depending on which affinity space they are in.
“QSU is a very white space. So I feel like it’s a different part of my identity that I’m letting come forward,” Chavez said.
Despite attending multiple affinity groups, Chavez does not identify with them equally.
“I am going to prioritize my ethnicity because it just informs me a lot more about who I am,” Chavez said.
Others have a different approach to the idea of multiple identities.
“I’m a lot of things, and I’ve made peace that my identity is just kind of chaos,” Wang said.
There is one Community Time block that is dedicated to affinity groups every week, which can be difficult for students who identify with multiple spaces to go to each one of them.
“I think just working on the scheduling and having more opportunities to go to affinity spaces rather than the rare few,” Warren said.
In addition to a more coordinated schedule, Chavez believes affinity groups could benefit from working with each other.
“What I would like to see is more affinity groups doing co-meetings or doing more collaborative work,” Chavez said.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Photo: Hannah Salemy

Junior Molly Hwang plays Gonggi, a Korean game, at an Asian Pacific Islander Student Union (APISU) meeting.