The UW-Madison Filipinx American Student Organization (FASO) is set to host the first post-pandemic Midwest Filipino American Summit (MFAS) on April 2, with more than 400 students from seven states expected to attend.
It’ll be the first such event FASO secretary Amelia Catacutan gets to attend. As a UW sophomore, Catacutan’s entire college experience has been limited by COVID-19.
FASO’s eight executive board members are doing most of the planning for this year’s event, which will include a range of career, arts and cultural events.
“We have career panels. So we have stuff from health sciences, politics and law, art and humanities, technology,” Catacutan said. “And then we have other workshops where you can learn more about culture from things from like poetry writing, to cooking, to dancing, to learning how to navigate your professional life as a person of color. Lots of different things. They get to choose kind of what kind of workshops that they attend. And then there’s a variety show after, where we kind of showcase different talents from all over the Midwest.”
This is the second time FASO has hosted MFAS, the last time being in 2012.
FASO is an affiliate of the Midwest Association of Filipino Americans (MAFA), with chapters in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio. Catacutan said UW’s FASO has about 70-80 active members.
“We’re all very, very close. We have like lineages where we get to kind of have closer, more like family-friendship relationships,” she said.
She said FASO has been active at UW since 1992 and helps a relatively small group of students find community.
“It’s hard to find a sense of community here on campus, especially when we are such a small minority,” she said. “And there are just some cultural things that I feel are inherent. That we inherently kind of understand each other through cultural experiences and life experiences. And so it’s really nice to have people where you feel like you can and be your authentic self. You can kind of have a family, kind of a community. And you get to explore more about who you are, our history, our culture, our connections.”
