USC Hawai'i Club - a cultural club, not a state club

2010-2011 School Year T-shirt Design by Kristie Kam

I recently spoke on a panel for PreviewUSC, one of USC's programs offered to prospective high school students during the spring semester and mentioned my involvement in different organizations, including the USC Hawai'i Club. During the Q&A, one parent asked, "You mentioned that you were president of the USC Hawai'i Club... Do other states have clubs? Is there a Texas Club?"

I laughed because the thought had never crossed my mind. It's true - in most universities, Hawai'i is the only state with a club, even if other states have significant representation. But the Hawai'i Clubs are not state clubs; they are cultural clubs, meant to spread the unique culture of the islands and the "aloha spirit" to different communities around the country. Hawai'i is more than just another one of the fifty states - its culture is so unique that sometimes people get confused about whether Hawai'i is its own country or part of the US. This unique culture is also one of the reasons students who go to college on the mainland get more homesick than students from other states. And this is probably one of the other main reasons Hawai'i Clubs were formed around the country - to be a family and support group, where Hawai'i students can instantly feel at home with others who inherently understand them.