The Taiwanese American Student Coalition hosted its annual banquet on Saturday, inviting Binghamton University students and visiting organizations to experience Taiwanese culture through multiple performances and videos created by the organization’s multimedia team.

Themed “Buxiban,” which translates to “cram school,” the event put a twist on the traditional supplementary education that is common throughout East Asia.

“This theme this year is pretty unique to East Asian culture in general, where school is very, very emphasized and important and kind of toxic in general,” Andy Li ‘25, a graduate advisor for TASC and first-year graduate student studying accounting, said. “All the studying you have to do after school to prep for these standardized tests. I think we’ve turned something that’s really kind of toxic and rigorous into something fun.”

Guests received buffet-style food catered by Chick-N-Bap before getting situated in their seats, all of which faced the stage at the end of the room. Beverages from 2nd Heaven in the Marketplace were also available, from passion fruit to jasmine milk tea and boba.

The banquet commenced with an E-Board introduction video tying in with the night’s academic-centered theme, depicting members of the organization as students playing poker. Xin Dong, a sophomore majoring in computer science, and Ryan Lin, a junior majoring in economics, the multimedia E-Board members for TASC, were primarily responsible for the video introduction, skits and ads that played throughout the night.

“Buxiban is after-school cram sessions, where after the normal prep at school, you’d go to extended periods of time outside of school, and you would continue cramming there as well,” Dong said. “So what I wanted to do is expand out of that Buxiban scope and go more toward the quote-unquote ‘bad kids’ side, where all the ‘bad kids’ would play all these games, like poker.”

The skit, consisting of four parts, depicted a humorous story of two girls in love with the same boy from their school, who ends up dying. While the plot and acting were dramatic, the video editing, which at moments included “The Office”-style zoom shots, made for a comedic experience.

The Women of TASC and TASC Cultural Dance were the first performances of the night. The cultural dance involved elegant movements with blue and pink fans and ribbons. The following performance featured Stanley Sun, president of TASC and a senior majoring in biology, and Li singing and playing guitar to “drunk” by keshi.

“It’s my last year,” Sun said. “So I wanted to just bring a cool, fun, entertaining event for our general body and for ASU sub-orgs. Also, just in general, putting Taiwan on the map in a way.”

Sponsors of the banquet included Brix Barber Co., Chick-N-Bap, LMNT, Moshi, the Multicultural Resource Center, Wegmans and Yami. This allowed a number of prizes to be awarded in the raffle, which were presented at the end of the night.

True to the night’s theme, the Binghamton Taekwondo club gave a martial arts performance centered dressed as high school students. It was broken up into three parts — with the first depicting a high school bully being beat up by his target and the next featuring two green belts fighting video-game style. The final portion was for breaking boards, allowing for club members to show off their high kicks.

There were several games and raffles throughout the night that gave attendees the chance to win items like a matcha set, rice cooker, Nintendo Switch and Pokémon sets. Games included trivia, where attendees had to answer questions related to TASC, Taiwanese culture and more basic pop culture questions. There was also a karaoke challenge and gym class relay.

After a brief intermission, a music group called YBK took to the stage and performed “Die On This Hill” by SIENNA SPIRO and “Lover Girl” by Laufey, which audience members clapped along to. Following this, other performances included a dance routine by Paradox, the K-Pop unit of PARAMODA on campus. The performance lifted the energy in the room, with attendees cheering the dancers on throughout the set.

After another installation of the night’s tragic skit, Eclipse Diabolo Team, a group that dances with Chinese yo-yos, took to the stage with hypnotic displays of different maneuvers. The yo-yos glowed on stage, creating a mesmerizing performance.

After the Men of TASC performance, the entire E-Board came together to perform a “High School Musical”-themed dance centered around graduation. It was an emotional moment for some of the organization’s members, especially the graduating seniors.

Li emphasized how this year’s banquet reflects the importance of academics and making the most of your time as a student.

“You kind of have to work hard and play hard,” Li said. “And I believe that this event kind of embodies that, because everyone here is really focused on themselves, but also focused on having fun in general. I believe that’s what college should be all about.”