We are proud to announce that Youth4AM’s fourth annual Opening Ceremony was a great success. We invited all parents to come out and cultivate the next generation of Chinese students and leaders. The seminar delved into diverse opportunities available to prospective teacher assistants accepted into our Leadership Program, and the experiences of interns in each of our departments: Academics, Administration, Future, IT, and Marketing. This year’s Speaker Night also featured the following: We welcomed nearly 200 attendees and numerous esteemed guests who spoke on the topic of equal educational opportunities.
Wai Wah Chin
Founding President of Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York
As the founding president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York, Wai Wah Chin has been actively advocating for the equal rights of New York citizens, especially in regard to equal educational opportunities. In addition, she is an advocate for the Asian American community and addresses the problems faced by Asian Americans in New York.
“If you want to talk about something that’s institutionalized, what’s happening on the street there comes from what’s happening in the school rooms when the Asians are told you don’t belong here … I think that we have to step back and say if we care about this kind of prejudice and bias, we have to stop it right at where the selection happens in the elementary schools, the middle schools, the high schools, and college because that actually trickles down further into your jobs and your board representations.”
Yiatin Chu
President of Asian Wave Alliance, Co-Founder of PLACE NYC, Co-President 2020-22
As the former Co-President and the Co-Founder of PLACE (Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education) NYC, she has helped open up numerous opportunities for the students of New York. She advocates for challenging academic courses for all students and believes all students, no matter their background, can succeed.
“Many of our families don’t really have backup plans and really allied with the school system to deliver placements that are appropriate for all of you. You have to do the best you can … Get involved and understand what is happening.”
Ann Hsu
Chairperson of the SFUSD Independent Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee
Ann Hsu is the chairperson of the SFUSD (San Francisco Unified Board of Education) and the former president of the Galileo High School PTSA. In more recent years, Hsu has formed the Chinese/API Voter Outreach Taskforce as a response to her disappointment in the performance of the current school board. She wanted to allow more voters to contribute to the elections, including non-citizens.
“Students were in front of the computer for months and experienced much loss of not just academics but also social skills and life skills. So I started paying attention to our school board and lo and behold, many of us parents found that the education board didn’t even think this was a problem, didn’t even realize or acknowledge that there was a problem … what were they doing? … I had enough so I in a group with other Asian Americans got together to really educate our population on the importance of engaging in politics. And that’s what I want to highlight to all of you, is that when you get to the voting age…to really learn who is affecting your day-to-day.”
Selena Chu
Co-Vice Chair for SFUSD Parent Advisory Council (PAC)
Selena Chu is the Co-Vice Chair for the SFUSD Parent Advisory Council (PAC) as well as the Chair of Ulloa Elementary School’s School Site Council (SSC), a member of SF Parents Coalition, and a member of the Chinese Parent Advisory Council (CPAC).
Chu first started contributing toward improving the public education system when the COVID quarantine began, when she made suggestions for the SFUSD regarding when her kids will be allowed to go back to school, but soon faced backlash from commissioners. She then decided to get involved with the school board recall group and, after months of rallying, tabling, and hanging door hangers, helped form the API/Chinese American New Voter’s Registration Task Force. The group registered 546 new voters after 1.5 months and, at last, three school board commissioners were recalled and victory was achieved for the parents and students of the SFUSD.
“I really want to encourage our students, don’t let the administrators or other people tell you how you should feel. If you feel like you are being discriminated against and it leaves you with a bad feeling then that’s how you feel. We need to have an open dialogue. Tell someone, speak to someone, and share our feeling. Don’t be ashamed of yourself.“
Connie Hsu
Stuyvesant PTA ex Co-President
Connie Hsu is the ex-Co-President of Stuyvesant’s Parents’ Association (PTA) and the president of the Chinese Outreach Association. She is also on the advisory board of the American Educated Chinese Foundation (AEC), which is a nonprofit organization that provides services to train Chinese American students into global leaders. The students tackle a variety of global issues like environmental sustainability.
“In the past four years, I’ve talked to many parents and students so I understand that for many of our students, especially the ones in specialized high schools, that life is not easy. It’s pretty tough, especially with the stress coming from schoolwork and now … college applications. They feel a lot of pressure to do a lot of things.”
After the speakers’ insightful presentations, each department within Youth4AM offered a glimpse into the inner workings of the program. Furthermore, parents got the opportunity to meet their students’ TAs. Thank you to speakers, students, parents, and TAs for making this event possible.
Youth4AM has experienced significant leadership team growth, with more college students accepted into the program this year via the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). In 2021, 5 college students were admitted, and in 2022, we have accepted 25+ college students (at least 6 from Binghamton, 4 from BU, 4 from CMU, 2 from NYU, UM, Columbia, etc.). Half of our students are former members of Youth4AM and chose to stay to learn. We are optimistic that our continuing expansion will help to improve the quality of the program and train high school students in tutoring and management more cohesively. Youth4AM sincerely invites all parents to come out and cultivate the next generation of leaders.
