By Stephanie Lim, DC Middle and High School Program Coordinator & AALEAD DC Middle and High School Youth
Photos Courtesy of Stephanie Lim
The beginning of another cycle of after-school programming is an exciting and busy time for staff and youth.
Staff have been hard at work preparing lesson plans and act
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 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.
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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
By Neel Saxena, Executive Director
Aspire to LEAD is about getting involved with Asian American LEAD to impact the lives of low-income and underserved Asian Pacific American youth. One of the ways to get involved is joi
By Stephanie Lim, Mentoring & Volunteer Programs Coordinator
Photos Courtesy of Stephanie Lim
This past week marked many celebrations. As we wrap up National Mentoring Month at AALEAD, I'm glad to have the opportunity to publicly appreciate our Mentors, whose victories and accomplishments occur in conversations, laughter, and moments of sharing with their mentees.
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By Tina Ngo, Mentoring & Volunteer Programs Manager Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff There have been many things that I've learned over the course of my time at Asian American LEAD (AALEAD), but one lesson in particular will always stand out to me. During an after school program session, a young person and I had a discussion about choices and how a single decision can create a ripple effect. I'll never forget this conversation because AALEAD youth speak truth: the choices that we make imp
By Naijla Faizi, DC Middle and High School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of Chelsea Iorlano, Development and Communications Associate Dear AALEADers, I want to thank all of you for an amazing 6 months starting from my summer internship until now. Unfortunately, due to personal family circumstances, I will be cutting my time a
By Ari Pak, MD High School Program Coordinator
Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff, Youth Powerpoint, and Southern Poverty Law Center
If anyone has ever
By Lili Greenstein, Development & Communications Intern Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff As I began this experience, I expected the typical internship position: filing, drafting cookie cutter tweets, instagram posts and other busy work. What I didn’t expect was to feel more morally and ethically connected to any other organization that I’ve worked for. AALEAD embodies the most important youth development component that I believe is crucial to success. H