Ina Dash
University of Washington
“I got to see first-hand how bumblebee pollination affects crop production in Seattle’s P-patches (community gardens) through a University of Washington citizen-science project. Insect pollinators are responsible for every one in three bites of food we take and one of the biggest contributors. Sad to say that bees have been declining in population.”
Tony Le
O’Dea High School
“I saw the Beyonce and Jay-Z concert (at Safeco). Beyonce looked at me (in the eye). It was love. It’s life-changing.”
Kianna Chang
UCLA
“It’s exciting to see London, Italy and Paris for the first time. My family and I got to see different parts of the world I have never seen before. I am most impressed with Italy, its art and architecture especially visiting the Pantheon. It’s also meaningful and educational to volunteer in a dentist’s office. I plan to major in dentistry at UCLA. I have always been interested in science. I like using my hands. It’s something I will be good at.”
Kevin Huynh
Hazen High School
“I went to Nashville for the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) national conference this summer. I am the vice president of the FBLA representing the Midwest. There were over 40,000 people there. I learned how to organize business events for the community.”
David Nguyen
Hazen High School
“As an intern for Caradigm, a healthcare analytics company, my teammate and I got to present our project to the CEO and CFO. Caradigm is a company formed by Microsoft and GE Healthcare. There were 17 interns altogether and only seven got to present their projects. I don’t know how many people applied for the internship, but I know it’s competitive. I was picked because of my passion for computers and science and my ambition to learn.”
Tyler Nguyen (pictured with Justine Wu, winner of the lucky draw)
Seattle University
“I spent more than five hours in preparing this art work to be donated as a prize for the Summer Youth Leadership Program reunion’s ‘lucky draw.’ I painted it first, used a computer-printed image, and hand-cut every shade of different colors. I then sprayed paint on it again.”
Lane Shigihara
University of Washington
“As president of ZBT fraternity this year, I am proud that I got selected. I am preparing to help my members to balance between academics and their extracurricular activities, and provide a good learning experience. Our fraternity has 45 members. Of the 32 UW fraternities, there are only four Asian presidents.”
Soli Pich
West Seattle High School
“I went to the youth career compass camp. It helped me to focus on finding the right career that fits my personality.”
Clarissa Fe O’Francia
West Seattle High School
“This summer, I started working at the Wing Luke Museum. It’s been a dream of mine since I was little to work in a museum, so this is a dream come true for me. All the things I’ve learned and all the amazing people I’ve met… Every moment I’ve been here has been a friendly struggle of balancing adolescence and adulthood, and I don’t regret anything.”
Kristy Huynh
“Project LiberAsian was an idea developed as a group project during the Northwest Asian Weekly Summer Youth Leadership Program. The idea is to create a non-profit organization that encourages Asian American youth in the Seattle community to express their creativity through performing arts. Our program workshops range from vocal and hip-hop/break dance sessions, to spoken word, rap, and public speaking instruction. Our year round program will be open for all youth between the ages of 12-18, but mainly targets Asian American teens. We believe they need an outlet to creatively express themselves and break the Asian, model minority stereotype that limits them to only pursue careers in STEM or business. We are confident these young Asian Americans will be able to engage with other people who share similar dreams and have more confidence in building their talents in performing arts.” (end)