How can I start an anime club?

How can I convince my school to start an Asian Culture Club?

• My school is Jesuit so they feel that there shouldn't be any clubs that focus on one race since they feel it causes racial tension. I want to start it next week but I'm kind of stuck on how to convince them that it is a good idea. At least its not like starting a Caucasian club which would probably cause an uproar. I had good ideas for this club like anime, manga, food, origami, games, movies, and excursions. Its just that some people seem misinformed and don't even know what Asian encompasses. Some don't consider India or the Philippines Asian. Our school is basically 98% Irish and the 2% that are Asian are seen as white and not Asian because they don't even know their culture. Im Filipino but people thought I was European because some of us do look white despite being 95% Asian(remember, most have Spanish descent)

• Answer:

  I started a martial arts club when I was in high school. That required a lot more because it also involved some responsibility if someone is injured or something similar. The first thing I would do is find someone on the faculty that is interested in being a sponsor. Having that faculty member will surely help you with writing up guidelines that the school requires for an official club. With the help of the faculty member, you need to become very specific about what the actual purpose of the club is. To say it's an "Asian Culture Club" is not quite enough. It sounds like it might say to people who are not Asian, "This club isn't for you." You want to have a purpose statement that shows exactly what your goal is, which it sounds like your goal is to educate all students to the Asian culture - particularly with the youth of Asia. I would also include how you plan on: 1) Show the differences between the Asian Cultures. (China is much different from Taiwan, they're both different from Korea, and they'll all different from Japan, which are much more different than Russia and India.) 2) Be a group that would be beneficial to all students. If a caucasian, which is 98% of the school population, wants to join, what will he get out of the experience? Not that there's anything wrong with catering to 2% of the school's population, but if you're looking to use school resources, you want to show how it can be beneficial to ANYONE that joins. This should be well documented in your presentations. 3) Address the exact concerns any faculty member has brought up. It is often a knee-jerk reaction of the faculty to say, "No" simply because it's easy to do. If you show you're concerned about their thoughts and are looking around for ways to solve their worries, you will have a better chance of opening up a dialog. 4) Look at your school's mission statement. This may also be in the slogan. At my Jesuit High School, our slogan was "Men for Others." How would your club fit into the image and mission of your particular school? If you can nail this home in your report to the school, the school will probably fall in love with your program. 5) What recruiting benefits does this program have? When the director of admissions goes to a grade school to talk about the high school, he will be able to use this club to help a minority student feel like there is a group for him. Building up that as a reputation in a minority community is only helpful to a school. Talk to your admissions director and see if you can get some suppor there. If you want to shoot any other ideas past me, I'll all ears. I love this project. I'm not Asian, but living in Taiwan (from Cincinnati), so I see the strong benefits of a club like this and hope you get approval.