For freshman Lindsay Lemons, the transition to college life, with its usual bumps in the road, has had an additional hurdle as she adjusts to living away from home.

A Korean-American born in the United States, Lemons always relied on her Korean friends to share in her culture’s traditions and to relate with on family problems that others might not understand. Since moving to Northeastern, though, she has had trouble meeting other Korean Americans.

“With my friends at home, we would always eat Korean food, and talk about random family things that don’t really come up, like how strict our parents are,” Lemons said. “Most of us could speak Korean and we could speak it with each other. Our parents all hung out, so the bond was easy. Since I’ve moved to Northeastern, though, I’ve had trouble meeting other Koreans, and I definitely miss that.”

Cases like Lemons’ have spawned the creation of a new support group for Asian and Asian-American students.

Sponsored by University Health and Counseling Services, the group will address problems and issues common among Asian and Asian-American students, said Mina Chung, a counselor on campus who founded the group.

“By offering the first group that targets Asian and Asian-American students on campus, though, we hope to offer a haven where they can feel comfortable sharing those issues,” she said.

Chung, who was recently hired on campus, said she was struck by the need to reach out to the Asian and Asian-American community on campus.

Though there are student groups like the Asian Student Union, some at the university, including Associate Director of Career Services Ketty Rosenfeld, said they feel there is a need for more outreach to Asian and Asian-American students on campus.

Rosenfeld currently sits on the Presidents’ Advisory Board, where she is encouraging the administration to open a new Asian-American Student Center.

“If we had an Asian-American Student Center, students would start feeling like there is an umbrella of support over them. Until now, we have not had that, and it has been tougher to set up programs like this new support group,” Rosenfeld said.

She said the new group was a “great start” toward addressing the Asian community, but that it would likely be difficult to convince students to join.

Even with the strong ethnic identification that many Asians have and cases like Lemons’ where there’s trouble finding a sense of belonging, Rosenfeld said, “counseling is not a part of the Asian culture. It is uncomfortable for a lot of students, and since we have not done programs consistently, students may not come out.”

Asian-American middler medical lab major Steve Liu said he was unlikely to join the group.

He said he identified very strongly with his Asian background but didn’t think the group, along with other Asian American events on campus, would give him what he was looking for in terms of forming cultural bonds.

He said he would like to see more events on campus for Asian American students. There, he said, he could be together with his Asian-American friends and do the sorts of things he enjoys doing.

“It’s kind of stupid to do the same cultural events,” Liu said. “We enjoy other things.”

Chung said there were already several students who expressed interest. The first meeting was scheduled for Jan. 24. at the counseling center on the third floor of Ell Hall at 7 p.m. From there, she said the group would most likely take on what she called “a life of its own.”

Advertised on myNEU under the headline “Surviving Asian Families,” Chung said the group would certainly focus on family issues, but would not limit itself to issues that could be considered Asian-specific.

“There are a variety of issues which concern Asian students that are not different from other students at the university, such as managing academics or relationships,” she said. “Because the Asian student body is so diverse, where we go with the group will be entirely dependent on the histories and stories that students bring in. I think we’ll address a number of issues that aren’t being talked about right now on campus,” she said.