By Charles Kuo, DC Programs Manager Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff I first met Bhadon S., an AALEAD intern at the time, during his surprise birthday party held by Tina N. (former AALEAD Mentoring and Volunteer Programs Manager). Many staff shared how proud they were o
By Ari Pak, MD High School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff If you were at the Silver Spring Civic Center last Saturday June 3, you already know how big AALEAD celebrates our community members! If you couldn't make it out, don't worry--I'm here to give you a peek into our first ever AALEAD Day! Photo h
By Neel Saxena, Executive Director Photos: Various Sources As the month of May comes to a close we mark the end of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. We continue the journey of a collective identity that began in the 1960s. As we celebrate the diversity of a unified APA identity, we continued to be mired in the monolithic perspective of APAs that ignores our individuality, particularly for our youth. APA youth voices have played a significant role in shaping APA history and at Asian Ame
By Vi Bui, Mentoring & Volunteer Programs Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff Here at Asian American LEAD (AALEAD), volunteers are a crucial resource to our youth development work. In some cases, such as with the mentoring program, we literally would not be able to provide these opportunities to our youth without the commitment of our volunteer mentors. Last April, we celebrated National Volunteer Month
By YLan Nguyen, MD Middle School Programs Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff For the past two months, AALEAD youth at Newport Mill Middle School have been planning their own workshops. Youth-led workshops are one of the ways that youth can choose what they want to learn about and how they want to learn. [caption id="attachment_15110" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
By Charles Kuo, DC Programs Manager Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff
The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Do
By Freidricka Camille, Community College and Internship Programs Coordinator Photo Courtesy of AALEAD Staff My name is Freidricka Camille, and I am excited to join the AALEAD family as the new Community College and Internship Coordinator. A little bit about me, I was born and raised in the Philippines for eleven years before my mom and I immigrated to the United States to live with my dad. It was the summer before 6th grade. When I lived in the Philippines, I had imagined that
My first job in California was with the Pacific Asian Alcohol Program, which is a social service agency that provides counseling and referral to Asian Pacific Americans (APA) who were convicted of drunk driving and other misdemeanors. Many of our clients were recent immigrants who do not speak nor understand English. The county could not provide translators most of the time, so our clients would bring their elementary or high-school age children to do the translation. I witnessed how t
By Yonsoo Kang, VA Middle School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff Hello again! AALEADers at Poe and Holmes Middle Schools have been working to improve their local community. We are part of an advocacy project called Youth Engagement and Health (YEAH!)Project where we try to assess and improve areas in our neighborhood to promote physical activity. Our Maryland friends at Loidermann Middle School (led by YLan Nguyen) are also doing this project while the ones at Argyle Mid
By Keo Xiong, MD Programs Manager Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff March was an inspiring month of youth leadership in action. The AALEAD Maryland middle school after-school program spent their March learning about high school, and had extended opportunities to meet their high school counterparts. Middle school youth learned more about life after middle school through our ‘Middle School to High School Transition Support Series,’ which included in-class workshops and guided walk