Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month is an annual celebration started in the 1970s that recognizes the historical and cultural contributions of individuals and groups of Asian and Pacific Islander descent to the United States. The AAPI umbrella term includes cultures from the entire Asian continent—including East, Southeast, and South Asia—and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
Community events
Throughout the month, events will take place in our community to celebrate Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Below are a few of those upcoming events.
Join Dayton Metro Library and make a lei while watching Polynesian dance demonstrations. See more information here.
Findlay Market in Cincinnati hosts an event where flavors from across Asia and the Pacific Islands come alive. See more information here.
Asian Festival offers a wide variety of entertainment, culture/art performances, a marketplace, an Asian food court, arts and crafts, and health screenings at no cost. See more information here.
Employee highlights
In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, we’re shining a spotlight on Sharlyn Rumambi, a medical technologist in the Core Laboratory at Kettering Health Main Campus.
Meet Sharlyn Rumambi
Tell us a little about your background.
“I’m originally from Manado, Indonesia. However, I moved to the United States for college and after graduating, got a job here at Kettering Health as a medical technologist. I’ve been in this role for about 3.5 years.”
What is your greatest accomplishment at KH?
“I would say my greatest accomplishment so far has been winning Employee of the Month in my department.”
What drew you to work here at KH?
“I really enjoyed my experience as a student during clinical rotations at KH Main Campus, so I decided this was a great place to kick-start my career.”
What inspires you in your job?
“Knowing that every day I clock in, my job plays a vital role in every patient’s diagnosis.”
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned over your career?
“I haven’t been working for very long, but one important lesson I’ve learned is to do the best you can in every task you are given, no matter how big or small.”
What advice would you give people in regards to their careers?
“Always strive to be a life-long learner, and find ways to grow upward in your career.”
Resources
Understanding our history is vital to improving equality for future generations. We’re sharing resources and a cultural highlight in honor of AAPI Heritage Month. Check out the details below to learn more about the contributions Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have made throughout history.
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza (book)
In ‘A Place for Us,’ Indian parents Rafiq and Layla confront their children’s choices during a family wedding, spanning from their immigration to America to their children’s struggle with cultural identity.
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (book)
Michelle Zauner’s memoir intertwines themes of family, culture, and identity as she reflects on her upbringing in Eugene, Oregon, navigating her Koreanness, her career in music, and her mother’s battle with cancer, ultimately reclaiming her heritage amidst loss and self-discovery.
Past Lives (Movie)
2023 Oscar Best Feature, Past Lives, follows Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, who are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrated from South Korea. Decades later, they are reunited for a week as they confront destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.
Nai Nai & Wài Pó (Short Documentary Film)
Director Sean Wang documents the endearing bond between his grandmas, inseparable best friends, and roommates in their 80s and 90s, in a heartfelt film that captures their humorous and unexpected daily routines. Through laughter and tears, their story becomes a poignant reminder that aging can be embraced with vitality and resilience, challenging stereotypes about growing older.
Behind the Lalavala (podcast)
A platform highlighting veterans, the vibrant people and culture of the Pacific, and small businesses. Available on YouTube and all podcast platforms.
Cultural highlight: Tiffany Chung
Finding one’s shadow in ruins and rubble by San Jose Museum of Art
Born in Da Nang, Vietnam in 1969, artist Tiffany Chung mines personal and cultural memory, retracing histories of conflict, displacement, and migration in drawings, sculptures, videos, and photographs.
Chung’s interest in forced immigration due to war and political conflict stems from a personal history of fleeing Vietnam with her family after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Finding one’s shadow in ruins and rubble (2014) is part of the artist’s “Syria Project,” an ongoing investigation of Syria’s humanitarian crisis that parallels her own experience of displacement.
Current Asian American and Pacific Islander figure
The impact Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have had throughout history can be seen in nearly every facet of life.
Katherine Luzuriaga, MD, is a Filipino American physician and pediatric immunologist who was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2013 for being part of a research team that orchestrated a breakthrough that “functionally cures” newborns of AIDS when transmitted from their mother during birth. Dr. Luzuriaga is a professor at the University of Massachusetts, vice provost for clinical and translational research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and director of the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Learn more about Dr. Luzuriaga here.
