The Asian American Association held its first general body meeting Thursday night.

AAA Programming Chairman Danny Poon discussed upcoming events such as visiting Habitat for Humanity next Saturday.

An icebreaker followed the executive board’s announcements. The participants played a game in which everyone stepped out of their shoes and stood in a circle. One person’s shoes were removed from the circle so that someone would always have to be in the middle. The person in the middle stated his or her name, year at MU and one thing he or she liked. If the stated thing applied to a circle member, then that person would hurry to another pair of shoes before he or she ended up in the middle.

There was a diverse racial makeup at the night’s meeting. Freshman Glenn Winfrey, who is white, was just one example of the racial diversity.

“My friend Daphne lives on the same floor as me, and she’s the freshman representative,” Winfrey said. “I thought it would be interesting to come along. I don’t think I’m as involved in school as I want to be, and I just wanted to see how I can get involved.”

AAA strives to bring together all students.

“AAA unites MU students of all backgrounds to bring campus awareness and understanding of Asian Pacific Islander American culture, history and current issues to Mizzou,” the group’s mission states.

Junior Leo Kim said he thinks it is great that others want to help advocate for Asian and Pacific Islander American issues.

“For the last two years, we’ve had someone white on our executive board,” Kim said. “If you’re passionate about (Asian Pacific Islander American) issues, we’d love to give you a go.”

After the icebreakers, Diversity Peer Educators led the group a discussion with the goal of creating tolerance and understanding among participants for future meetings.

The group’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept 26.