Loyola Students Host Second Annual Maryland Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Conference

On Saturday, April 9, student members of our Asian Affinity Group hosted the Second Annual Maryland Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Conference (MAPIDAC). The conference welcomed 148 student participants and 28 student leaders from 22 schools across the state, who came together for a day to discuss the experience of being Asian American. The event featured guest speakers, three sets of breakout sessions, a dance performance from students from Eastern Tech, and lunch from Bibibop in Columbia.

Loyola students Adarsh Gadepalli '22 and David Veloso '22 attended the conference virtually last year with students from Calvert Hall, Bryn Mawr, Maryvale, and Gilman. They were so moved by the experience of connecting with their peers from other schools that they came up with the idea to host this year's event.

Over the course of the past 10 months, they teamed up with three student leaders from Bryn Mawr—Hannah Shen '22, Jingjing Xu '22, and Katie Zhu '22—to plan the event. The five-member team planned the flow of the day, identified and contacted guest speakers, recruited and organized two dozen other student facilitators, met with Alecia Berman-Dry at the Association of Independent Maryland Schools (AIMS) to facilitate registration, ordered food, and sent out conference information to the 148 student participants.

The team executed the event flawlessly with plenty of help from students and faculty members from participating schools. Thanks to everyone who made this day so special for these students.

View photos from the event here.

Second Annual Maryland Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Conference (MAPIDAC)
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