{"id":345394,"date":"2026-06-03T21:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/345394\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T21:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:06:15","slug":"bc-celebrates-aanhpi-heritage-month-with-campus-luau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/345394\/","title":{"rendered":"BC Celebrates AANHPI Heritage Month with Campus Luau"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, June 3, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Bakersfield College was excited to host a campus Luau to celebrate Asian America,<br \/>\n                        Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. The exciting event<br \/>\n                        featured a variety of Hawaiian-inspired food and drinks, guest speakers, music, Polynesian<br \/>\n                        performers, and more.<\/p>\n<p>BC President, Dr. Stacey Pfluger helped welcome attendees and emphasized the importance<br \/>\n                        of celebrating AANHPI month. \u201cThis month, we honor the resilience, the culture, the<br \/>\n                        joy and the belonging that the AANHPI community brings to our campus every single<br \/>\n                        day,\u201d she said, \u201cI want to thank you all for letting BC be a part of your story, and<br \/>\n                        for choosing BC to be a part of yours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the proceedings continued, Fidel Calbuena, Director of Food Services at BC, was<br \/>\n                        welcomed to the podium. He took time to discuss the food items that were available<br \/>\n                        to attendees \u2013 their inspiration and connection to history and culture. This included,<br \/>\n                        roast pig, poi, fried rice with spam and pineapple, roast chicken, shredded pork,<br \/>\n                        and much more \u2013 including a wide variety of specialty beverages and desserts.<\/p>\n<p>One of the featured speakers for the event was Quon Louey, Vice President of the Kern<br \/>\n                        County Asian Chamber of Commerce. He expressed excitement and gratitude for the day\u2019s<br \/>\n                        events. \u201cTonight, we celebrate more than just a culture. It is a celebration of resilience,<br \/>\n                        family, history, entrepreneurship, education, and community,\u201d he said, \u201cIt is a reminder<br \/>\n                        that the AANHPI story is deeply woven in the story of California and Kern County.\u201d<br \/>\n                        He also talked about the impact AANHPI individuals had on the history of Kern County,<br \/>\n                        from building railroads and irrigation systems to agricultural and business development.<br \/>\n                        \u201cToday, the next generation is sitting right here in this room,\u201d Mr. Louey said, \u201cstudents<br \/>\n                        at Bakersfield College represent the future of leadership in Kern County.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The event concluded with a Polynesian dance demonstration and a fire dancer, both<br \/>\n                        showcasing the excitement and style of pacific islander entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>Even though it was a rainy afternoon, more than a hundred students, staff, and community<br \/>\n                        members gathered in the Breezeway of the Campus Center building to enjoy food, fellowship,<br \/>\n                        and fun. Thank you to everyone who made this event possible, especially to those who<br \/>\n                        helped prepare and serve the delicious food for the event.<\/p>\n<p>                              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/campus-luau-May2026-SQ3.jpg\" alt=\"three adults wearing leighs and getting food\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/campus-luau-May2026-SQ6.jpg\" alt=\"dancer performing while wearing bright yellow outfit\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/campus-luau-May2026-SQ1.jpg\" alt=\"BC food server and large roast pig\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/campus-luau-May2026-SQ2.jpg\" alt=\"pinapple updside down cake\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/campus-luau-May2026-SQ5.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Jimenez speaking at a podium during luau\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/campus-luau-May2026-SQ7.jpg\" alt=\"male perfomer with fire sticks during event\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/campus-luau-May2026-SQ8.jpg\" alt=\"female dancing during performance at the event\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/campus-luau-May2026-SQ4.jpg\" alt=\"BC food server giving food to an attendee\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wednesday, June 3, 2026 Bakersfield College was excited to host a campus Luau to celebrate Asian America, Native&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-345394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}