Brienna Rafferty '23 left a legacy with UNCW's Asian Heritage Cultural Center. Rafferty, who served as the Asian Student Association President from 2021-23, solicited help from the Student Government Association and other student leaders across campus to establish the center. Her petition to begin an Asian center on campus received more than 500 signatures of support. With the additional assistance of Dr. Donyell Roseboro, the university's chief diversity officer, the Asian Student Association was able to secure space for the center, which opened in August 2022 in the Fisher University Union.
She reflects on her Seahawk experience in this latest Hawk's Eye View.
Brienna at the ribbon cutting for the Asian Heritage Cultural Center
The center opening means everything to me. Since starting my presidency with the Asian Student Association, we've really advocated for the center.
Seeing it from the very beginning, the seed, and growing into this has been amazing. The center is a good support system for the students on campus by having a safe space not only for students of Asian heritage or Pacific Islander background but just in general for all students who want to come in and be comfortable with one another and meet other people. People like to study here and communicate with the community. We’re going to try and do more community outreach and get to know more people.
During the last four years, one of the things that made UNCW special to me was finding the Asian Student Association during my freshman year. I saw it during the Involvement Carnival, and that was basically the kickstart to everything.
I met so many people, and it gave me a good opportunity to have a leadership role. I was not only the president of the Asian Student Association, but I also joined several committees throughout the campus. Having a leadership position on campus will help me in the future in any career I decide to take.
I'm a math major, so I would probably most likely go into finance or maybe even teach in the future. These leadership skills will give me the confidence to pursue those careers.
One of our hopes and goals when opening the center was to create more interest from people of Asian heritage or cultural background to come to UNCW. We hope to see a growth in numbers and maybe a center expansion in the future.
Even if they don't know me, I hope people will remember that we worked very hard for this space. We advocated as students for a space on campus for everyone. My experience at UNCW has been like no other because we have the Asian Heritage Cultural Center, one of the first in the state.