Asian Student Association (ASA) Spicy Noodle Challenge

Asian Student Association

Spicy Noodle Challenge

International Fair on Thursday, April 27th, 2023

This Spring, CHI-PAC was delighted to partner with the FHN Asian Students Association (ASA) for a fun student activity at the school’s FIRST International Fair since the pandemic.

At the FHN International Fair, the student body explored cultures from 30 different countries, represented by fellow students. (The FHN Chinese Club represented China.) The ASA applied for a grant from CHI-PAC, in order to fund the Spicy Noodle Challenge. Over 50 students participated in three rounds of the challenge and many more were enthusiastic spectators. Each participant received a bowl of spicy ramen and raced to finish it first. Congratulations to Jeff Zhou, Tristan Gerville-Reache, and Wolfe Kroll for winning first place in their respective heats and earning a $5 Meijer gift card. This activity was an exciting and engaging way to showcase Asian food to students & staff. The revival of the International Fair was very successful and the ASA looks forward to hosting it again in future years to come. CHI-PAC looks forward to supporting & collaborating in the future with FHN students to share the joys of Chinese culture.

What is the ASA & the Spicy Noodle Challenge?

The Asian Student Association (ASA) is a social club that was established in the fall of
2022 with the goal to promote Asian heritage & culture at FHN. It has held meetings
consistently twice a month, with weekly attendance at around 35 students and the most
prominent activity being the Spicy Noodle Challenge, where over 50 students
participated in a competition to eat a given amount of Korean spicy ramen noodles
(Buldak) as fast as possible. The ASA is completely student-led and does not receive
any funding from the school.

What is the International Fair?

The International Fair has been a long held tradition at Forest Hills Northern as a day to embrace the diversity in the student body and learn more about the different heritages our classmates come from. It is a day filled with lots of food, music, and fun.

Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Fair has not been held since 2020. The senior class is currently the only group of students at Northern who have experienced this, and the Fair took place their freshman year. The Fair has long been organized by Diversity Club; they have been unable to re-establish the International Fair it once led.

The ASA board members were very alarmed about this, knowing that once the current seniors graduated, there would be a low chance of the International Fair ever existing again because no one in the school would have had a chance to experience the International Fair, and much of the school administration has changed since the last Fair. The ASA board unanimously decided that we would work to bring it back. At first,
the club involvement was small. A representative from the ASA, along with anotherstudent who was incredibly enthusiastic about the whole idea, scheduled a meeting with the office administration and presented the proposal to bring back the International Fair.

To promote participation and inclusion, ASA has partnered with several clubs at our school including notably the Black Student Union (BSU), Chinese Club, Muslim Student Association, among many others. There
were over thirty different countries registered to have a booth at the International Fair!