We are HAUPIAA. A play on the Hawaiian word "haupia," which is a traditional Hawaiian coconut-based dessert, our Cal Athletics Employee Engagement Group intends to honor the ancestry of and unite the Pacific Islander and Asian American community. Admittedly, this is no easy task as the Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander community is vast, diverse and continually developing. By naming our group after a Hawaiian food, we have chosen to challenge the conventional thinking of how an Asian American and Pacific Islander group might center its identity and have chosen a humble lesser known dessert, from a small island, as opposed to a large or continental Asian culture.
 
In this month of May when we celebrate and highlight AAPI heritage, we hope to remind and educate the Cal Athletics community of the range of cultural diversity within the AAPI family. This range should not be understated as everything from the ways we look, to the ways we think and to the ways we act can all be very different. From the Himalayan mountains, to the shores of the island nations, and all the way to the Bay Area, which Cal Athletics calls home, the range of our diversity and presence is undeniable.
 
#wegotrange #AAPICalfamily #AAPICalohana #diversitywithinfamily


JT Okada is the head coach of Cal's men's gymnastics program.