On Oct. 19, 2024, the Asian American Student Association (AASA) will host the annual Night Market to display the many Asian cultures at Stevenson on the pool patio. Night Market has had several changes this year to provide a distinct experience from past years.
Stevenson’s Night Market is an event that allows Stevenson students to experience multiple Asian cultures through food, immersive booths, and cultural performances. To allow more preparation for World’s Fair, Night Market will be hosted in October. While the goals for Night Market are expected to stay the same, this year, the Asian American Student Association (AASA) has made specific changes to the event by using an outdoor venue and increasing the available space to help enhance the experience.
“Night Market feels like an Asian street market going on outside, and you’re seeing all these different cultures blend on one street,” AASA President Joshua Lim ’25 said. “With the pool patio, we will have more space so it won’t be as crowded, and we’ll have more places where you can talk with your family or friends and eat whatever you bought.”
According to Lim, the immersion of an outdoor venue provides a similar experience to a real Asian marketplace. With the atmosphere of Night Market taking a new turn, Lim believes that attendees can enjoy the events more and learn more about the various cultures. AASA sponsor Maria Choi Yung also believes that through Night Market, students can continue to gather and share their cultural backgrounds with the Stevenson community.
“Night Market is for the Stevenson community,” Choi Yung said. “It celebrates a lot of the cultures that are in our student body and brings a lot of students together. This is one of the things that they really liked doing and participating within the school and is one of those highlights in Stevensons students’ experiences.”
Choi Yung explains that through Night Market, Stevenson can continue to embrace its cultural diversity with student celebration and participation. In addition to celebrating diversity, the donations and profits that booths and performances make at Night Market are donated to charities. Lim assures that the paid tickets for food and headstamps for performances will continue to raise donations while also helping monitor attendance to ensure an enjoyable experience.
“The food will all cost tickets, each ticket costing $1, but each booth is required to have a free activity that you’re supposed to engage with,” Lim said. “Night Market will also be keeping the system of headstamps for performances to prevent overcrowding and help us control how many people are coming in, so the people who care a lot, like family members and friends, can ensure that they have a seat to watch their friends perform.”
The food and admission tickets are only one part of the logistics that AASA directs for such a wide-scale and recognizable event. While Choi Yung works alongside sponsors Brad Der and P. Sunny Suntharanund to help make the process efficient and streamlined, leaders like AASA Vice President Abia Jeelani Basha ’26 are active in planning the night and participating.
“We figured out logistics last year in May when we got news of the change in date of the event, so this year was full of planning the marketing aspect and organizing booths and groups,” Basha said. “Usually, all the logistics and planning would occur in the second semester, but this year everything was just pushed up earlier.”
Though the date change created extra work for AASA leaders, Basha is proud of how the leadership responded. While the shift to Night Market caused a lot of challenges in planning and preparation, Choi Yung is confident that the mission of creating cultural unity and helping students embrace their identity is still the priority.
“This is a great opportunity for students to have pride in their culture, and especially nowadays, like with different cultures, where some kids are different mixes, and so I think that’s kind of nice to bring friends together,” Choi Yung said.