“What’s your superpower?” The Brookline Asian American Family Network (BAAFN) asked that question to Asian American students submitting to their essay contest this year.
The annual BAAFN Essay Contest is a platform for Asian American students to express their identity in creative ways and connect with the greater Brookline Asian American community while doing so.
Students had the opportunity to win multiple awards, such as the BAAFN Award, Creativity Award, Content Award and Hsiu-Lan Change Award. Freshman Hannah Li, who won the Hsiu-Lang Chang Award with her piece “Escapist,” said that the BAAFN Essay Contest helped her express herself because it gave her the opportunity to write about experiences she wouldn’t normally have the platform to talk about.
“I highly recommend it, because it’s a great experience to learn and grow in your writing. And if you win something, that’s great. And if you don’t win something, you don’t lose anything,” Li said.
Winner of the Creativity Award with her piece “The Art of Refolding,” junior Lisa Maruyama said that although the contest’s focus centered on Asian American identity, it still allowed for much creativity.
“I compared myself to a piece of paper and made this whole story of how facing challenges is like trying to create a beautiful origami piece,” Maruyama said.
Li, who was originally encouraged by a friend to enter the contest, didn’t immediately know what she was going to write about, but ended up writing about her experience with bullying.
“It was kind of a vulnerable topic, but I just wrote about some troubles I had in eighth grade. The topic was, ‘Being an Asian American, what’s your superpower?’” Li said. “So I was thinking: learning and growing and thinking—that could be a superpower.”
Freshman Regina Qu won the BAAFN Award for her essay “Rewriting My Story,” exploring Asian representation in media. Qu said the award boosted her confidence.
“It made me feel more confident in my writing skills and made me feel more represented, as my essay was good enough to be chosen and more impactful to the community,” Qu said.
Maruyama said she wanted her readers to consider the importance of perseverance.
“If you’ve ever made origami, if you mess up, the paper gets really crinkled. But at the end, you made the crane with the crinkled piece of paper anyway,” Maruyama said.
Qu said she wanted readers to feel represented.
“They should just express themselves how they want to. I want my audience to take home that they’re not alone, because a lot of Asian Americans feel that way,” Qu said. “I want them to feel like they’re not the only ones experiencing this.”
