The Myanmar Student Association officially registered with the University of Wisconsin April 4, according to MRSA External President Biak Tial.
MRSA’s mission is to create a community on campus that raises awareness of cultures in Myanmar — commonly known as Burma, Tial said.
Myanmar is home to people from over 100 different ethnic backgrounds, and MRSA aims to serve a diverse range of students, of Myanmar descent including Chin, Karen and Kachin students, according to Tial and the organization’s Instagram page.
“We don’t want to phrase it as Burmese, but just Myanmar descent, because all of these ethnic groups are from Myanmar,” Tial said.
Initial efforts to start a Myanmar student organization were stifled by the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are many students of Myanmar descent currently at Madison, inspiring students to get the club up and running, Tial said.
In order to become a Registered Student Organization, MRSA’s executive board had to establish a set of bylaws, create membership criteria and draft a mission statement, Tial said. Goodson Vue, MRSA’s advisors and others from UW’s PEOPLE program were instrumental in helping the organization get off the ground and register with the university, Tial said.
There are currently several other organizations for students of Asian descent at UW, including the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Student Center and the South East Asian Students Association, but maintaining an organization specific to students of Myanmar descent will create a tighter-knit community, Tial said.
So far, MRSA has held one event, a kick-off celebration April 4, which included a presentation, rice and Thai potato and chicken curries and games. The event served primarily as a way to reach out to students of Myanmar descent and field support from other Asian communities on campus, Tial said.
“Our goal from that initial meeting was to connect with other students from Myanmar that we have not known and also to get support from other Asian communities as well,” Tial said “We had a lot of people that came from CSA and HASA.”
MRSA plans to host a number of cultural and community events next year, including a collaboration with The Vault, a student-run business-fashion organization, to create a fashion show that showcases the traditional clothing of the many Myanmar ethnic groups, according to Tial.
MRSA leadership also plans to craft celebrations around traditional Myanmar holidays, like New Years, which falls on different days of the year for some ethnic groups in Myanmar, according to Tial.
Through these events and the organization’s new presence on campus, incoming and current students of Myanmar descent will have access to a sort of built in community, according to Tial.
“We want MRSA — Myanmar Students Association — to be a place that they can have a sense of community, where their different backgrounds can be supported and they’re able to share experiences together and … get to connect with older members who will help them throughout their time at Madison,” Tial said.
