Happy April SASE Family!
I hope you all had a great March and were able to bloom throughout the month just as spring brought the flowers into bloom. The pollen was plentiful and so were our events here at SASE, with lots of SASE-hosted events as well as collaborations with other organizations here on campus. Let’s take a stroll and look back at some of the events we had this month!
Lake Wauburg Social
Our first event of the month was the Lake Wauburg Social, where our members were able to enjoy the lake-side fun and engage in activities such as sports and kayaking. Although the weather wasn’t ideal, we didn’t let that stop us from having a great time unwinding by the lake and enjoying the valuable time we spent together. Thank you so much to our social chair, Bailey, for organizing this event!
GBM#2: Top SASE
Before we headed off for spring break, we couldn’t leave without GBM 2: Top SASE! Our members were able to learn about Asian-American leadership in industry and speak to UF SASE alumnus (and founder!) Caitlyn Sorriano to hear about her experiences and overcoming barriers in industry to become a leader. We also had a very special appearance from SASE National CEO Khanh Vu, who was able to bestow us with even more invaluable insight regarding Asian American leadership. Thank you so much to our GBM 2 leads for organizing such a wonderful event, as well as our speakers Caitlyn and Khanh for gifting our members with so many valuable lessons for us to take as we prepare ourselves for our careers!
SASE members Haya and Zach participating in the icebreaker at GBM#2
Deep Learning Tech Workshop
Mid-way through March gave us a nice respite from school in spring break, which was a great way for our members to relax from school and spend time de-stressing from the chaos of the semester.
Hot on the heels of spring break, though, was our first collaborative Technical Workshop with UF Data Science & Informatics: Basics of Deep Learning. This collaboration provided our members with a highly educational overview of deep learning in AI as well as a live demonstration with our member-submitted pictures of cats and dogs. Our members were able to learn a lot about an aspect of AI that is becoming very prevalent in our daily lives, so thank you so much to our technical chairs Sharika and Tam as well as Matthew Mapa from DSI for this opportunity!
Crafty Night Social
If there was one game that has held the mantra of “most ubiquitous” through most of our childhoods, not many games could hold a candle to that honor as much as Minecraft. Our Crafty Night Social allowed us to go back and relive some of our Minecraft memories as we competed to see who could build the best in-game version of Century Tower. We also had lots of origami paper and were able to “build” our origami creations in real life! This social was a great way for our members to express their creative sides whether through Minecraft or origami, so thank you so much to our social chair, Bailey, for allowing us to relive our childhoods through this social!
Mario Kart Tournament
Another one of our childhood gaming staples, of course, is Mario Kart, and our friends over at the Japanese Student Association were thinking the same thing so we decided to team up and host Race for Yoshi, a collaborative Mario Kart tournament to prove once and for all who the ruler of Mario Kart was! This event was super fun as we had our members pitted up against each other in a battle for the ages to determine who would be crowned the winner. Thank you so much to our sports coordinator, Alan, as well as JSA’s sports coordinator, Brenda, for organizing this exciting tournament!
SASE and JSA compete in the Mario Kart Race for Yoshi
Dog Toy Service Event
What are two of the things we love the most here at UF SASE? Well, those would be service and the UF Health Educated Asian Leaders! So when HEAL reached out to us some time ago to organize an event with us to create and donate dog toys for St. Francis Pet Care and Alachua Animal Services, we couldn’t contain our excitement. Our members were able to recycle old t-shirts and create dog toys for so many good boys and girls at these shelters, and were even able to play with the dogs (and cats!) at the animal shelter as well. This event was one of the most fulfilling events of the year for our members as we got to experience the fruits of our labor with all the cute animals! Thank you so much to the people here at SASE including Interns Rachel, Aubrey, and our service chair Kelly, as well as Erika and Christa over at HEAL for making this awesome event happen!
SASE gets to play with the dog toys they made at the service event
GBM#3: Summer by the SASEside
Our last event of March was GBM 3: Summer by the SASEside. This was our last GBM of the semester, and what a way to end off our GBMs for the academic year! With the semester speeding to its end and the summer fast approaching, our members were able to learn how to make the most of their summer and become their best SASElves. Summer vibes were in full swing, and we were able to enjoy summer snacks such as popsicles and root beer floats while signing each other’s SASEbooks as a memento for the school year. Our members were also able to hear from UF SASE alumnus and 2x former board member James Boultinghouse about his experiences in college and in industry. Thank you so much to our GBM 3 leads for hosting such a great final GBM to end the academic year off, as well as James for his great answers and insights!
SASE poses after GBM#3 with their new shirts
Conclusion
Wow, March really was a fun month here at SASE! Now that our last GBM has come and went, only a few weeks remain in the semester, and it feels like the end is in sight. Some of the most important events of our semester are on the horizon, including E-Board Elections, SERC, Spring Banquet, and all of the Interns-hosted events that our SASE Interns have been working so hard on the past few weeks.
Finals season is also approaching, meaning that these next few weeks are going to be extremely busy for all of us. However, I encourage each and every one of you to hang in there and finish out the semester strong, just as you’ve been working towards this since January. If you ever feel overwhelmed or need someone to talk to, don’t be shy to reach out! We are stronger together and we are here for you. This time can be very hectic but it’s also one of the best times of the year, so let’s conquer it together.
Exciting things are coming up here at UF SASE, and we hope to see you at some of our last events of the year!
Your Secretary,
Meer Mahfuz
∩｡• ᵕ •｡∩ ♡
