Name: JC Silverman
Year: Junior
Major: International Studies
Hometown: South Chicago Suburbs
Fun fact: I’ve competed in hotdog and rib eating contests. I’ve never won, but I’ve done it, and it has kind of made me hate hotdogs.
HC: What made you want to join FASA (Filipino American Student Association)?
JC: My cousins and family members all went to Purdue in Lafayette, Indiana, and they were really involved in their Filipino club. They always talked about it, I always saw pictures and it just seemed like something I’d want to do when I went to college because I saw how much fun they had. They’re still friends with the people in the club even now, years after college. At first, I wasn’t too into it, but after hanging out with the people I saw how they act exactly like my family back home.
HC: What made you want to be on the board?
JC: A lot of the people there really helped me through a lot. I had a very stressful end of freshman/ beginning of sophomore year, and through FASA, I was able to get out of that sad, upsetting part of college. If I could do that for somebody else who joins FASA, that would be great, and that’s the reason why I decided to run. I want to make sure that future FASA members have the same experience that I did.
HC: As president, what are your goals for this year?
JC: For FASA, we are a relatively small organization compared to other Filipino organizations across the Midwest, and we actually are a pretty small representation on campus. Actually for our organization, we have a pretty big presence within the Midwest, but not so much on campus. My whole goal is to start being more present on campus by interacting with other Asian organizations, as well as the greater community. We’re also looking at collaborating with other cultural organizations and other organizations, in general, on campus.
HC: What’s your favorite part of FASA as a whole?
JC: I really like that, although we’re relatively small for a student organization, the size of it. It’s big enough where you don’t hang out with the same people every day, but it’s small enough where you can hang out with anyone and feel really comfortable. It’s a tight-knit community, and I can talk to them about anything.
HC: What else are you involved in on campus?
JC: I’m a peer facilitator for the global scholars program, a living community in North Quad. I have a group of 12 first year global scholars, and we do dialogues and conversations about global and social justice issues. This year, there’s the research, action and project (RAP) internship, and my group is paired with an organization in India. We’re in the process of communicating about ways we can interact and help them. So far, we know that they want us to help them with their social media.
HC: What is your advice for students who want to get more involved on campus?
JC: Just give everything a shot. I remember my freshman year, I went to a lot of mass meetings and talked to a lot of people, and you’ll never really know what you’re going to be involved in until you actually try. I was in like ten different clubs until I figured out which ones I really wanted to be involved in. Also, even though you should try everything, you shouldn’t spread yourself too thin. Just dive right in, and find what makes you happy.