ORONO, Maine — There are a lot of reasons why students attend the University of Maine's flagship campus in Orono. For most, the choice came down to academics.
“I went here for my undergrad and I decided just to stay at UMaine, I loved the ecology and environmental science program," first-year Master's student Abigayl Novak said.
Sophomore Annapurna Leung was interested in marine science and originally attended college in Hawaii before switching coasts to attend UMaine. Now, she's focused on batting plastic pollution in our oceans.
Recent graduate Kelly Xiao is a Bangor resident and picked Orono for school to be close to home and near her parents, who don't speak that much English.
While all three had different journeys to campus, they now stick together as part of the Asian Student Association, which typically has about 20 members per year.
“[It] is a group that just includes the community and people that want to learn more about Asian culture," Novak said.
The group hosts events around campus, or virtually, throughout the year with its biggest being "Taste of Asia" where other students and community members become exposed to Asian cuisine.
Over the past year, Asian culture became a target for hate when the COVID-19 pandemic spread across our country and our state.
“My parents were already a little more worried than normal because it did come from China and there was already slightly more hate was occurring, calling it a Wuhan virus," Xiao said.
She added her family was one of the few Asian families in Bucksport before moving to Bangor. She said she experienced "a little racism" when she was younger and called the remarks "jokes," but said they left a lasting impact.
“When we were younger, they would make fun of you know, how our eyes, like we have squinty eyes. It stuck with me throughout my life like, just knowing that people just see us for what we look like," she added.
Novak echoed a similar statement and added, "it was essentially bullying, but yeah, it was racism."
Leung is the only one of the three who did not grow up in or live in Maine prior to college. She lived in Quincy and then went to high school in Braintree, two towns located outside of Boston.
“I don’t know if people know but people call [Quincy] the second Chinatown because there’s a lot of Asians that live there," she said.
Growing up with other Asian friends, Leung said they all stuck together, especially if someone was being bullied due to their race.
As the pandemic persisted throughout 2020 and now into 2021, more Asian hate crimes were reported and the hatred escalated to violence in March, when Atlanta-area spa shootings left eight people dead. Six of them were Asian women.
"When I first saw it, I didn’t want to believe it, obviously," Leung said.
“I didn’t really feel comfortable with going out after, a couple [of] days after, this news had come out. Not because I thought Maine was an unsafe place it was just, I think digesting what actually happened," Novak added.
The three Black Bears added that Maine, and the UMaine campus, are generally safe. Although they admit they don't stray too far away from the Orono area.
Before and after the shooting, Xiao said her parents began to check in on her more to make sure she was home safe from school or work. She said she even began checking in with her parents to ask the same questions.
To combat the rise of Asian hate crimes, the COVID-19 19 Hate Crimes Act was introduced and passed through the United States Senate last month. The bill is expected to be voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives next week. If passed, it could be signed into law by President Joe Biden.
For Xiao, it will take more than a new law to be enacted for her to feel secure in this country.
“‘Oh, we see that it’s happening, and we’re doing something about it, but I don’t feel supported by the government still," she added.
The three women all emphasized that education and conversations about diversity are important for future generations.
“Being friends with everyone is very important and learning how it doesn’t matter what they look like, what color they are," Xiao said.
“You are who you are, you grew up how you grew up, and you can’t change that, all you can do now is keep going being who you are," Leung added.
At the end of the day, whether we are here for school or for life, we're all Mainers.