The Boston University International Adoptee Club strives to provide a space for adopted students to share common experiences and connect further with their roots. A year after its founding, members of the club say they hope to bring in more students with diverse backgrounds.
“We just wanted to make it a safe space and community for people who are adopted so that they can talk to each other and learn about each other’s backgrounds,” said Chloe Shannon, a sophomore in the Questrom School of Business and current president of IAC. “It’s a really niche community within Boston University.”
A majority of the club’s members were born in East Asia, according to Shannon.
Shannon said she wants the club to grow in new directions — over the summer, an idea arose of partnering with middle or elementary schools to develop a mentoring system.
Before she discovered the BU IAC, Shannon said she struggled to find other adoptees to resonate with.
“Just talking to my e-board [now], we can have heart-to-heart conversations about things that I never can with some of my other friends who don’t share the same experiences,” she said.
Mei Lian Coble, a founder of the IAC and a 2022 graduate from the College of Communication, said she initially started the IAC alongside two other seniors with the intention of creating a social club where people who identify as an adoptee can share and hear others’ experiences.
“We had a pretty good amount of interest, more than I had originally expected actually,” Coble said. “That really solidified to me that this was an important club or an important step, at least personally and also just for the community.”
Coble, who was raised in the Bay Area, said she grew up knowing that she was adopted but not much else about her Chinese background.
During her sophomore year, Coble said she “really resonated with” a group of Chinese adoptees, in their thirties, who met up for film screenings and discussions.
“I just wanted to have a group my age and in undergrad who maybe didn’t have anyone either,” Coble said of the club’s inspiration.
Zoe Tseng, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Science and current Vice President of IAC said the club’s biweekly discussions broached many topics.
“It doesn’t need to be a lot of [the] mushy ‘Oh my god, what does it mean to be adopted?’” Tseng said. “The club doesn’t need to be about that, but more just sharing an identity, bonding through it and getting to know other people’s cultures.”
Last year, the founders of the club introduced informal bonding events to gather interest. “We were still trying to figure out what we could do with it,” said Coble.
Teá Kepler, a senior in the College of Arts and Science and past member of IAC, said the meetings that semester were casual.
“We played Charades… another time went to Time Out [Market] and had dinner,” Kepler said. “And then another time, I went over to the founders’ apartment, and we made dumplings.”
Coble said the club would also host meetings for conversation, to watch documentaries or sometimes to talk about politics.
“It was a lot about whatever folks wanted to share and were willing to be vulnerable with. Obviously, it’s very difficult because it’s such a big piece of your identity that I don’t think has often been recognized as different from others,” Coble said.
She said the IAC was also a great place for her to have one-on-one conversations with the members about their unique experiences with adoption and different cultural backgrounds.
“I’m just really glad that it’s still going and that people are willing to continue showing up,” said Coble. “You don’t often know that’s what you need until you have it.”
