2023 Youth4AM Opening Ceremony Speaker Highlights
We are proud to announce that Youth4AM’s fifth 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, Business Development, IT, and Marketing. This year’s Opening Ceremony also featured the following: We welcomed over 100 attendees and numerous esteemed guests who spoke on the topic of equal educational opportunities.
Yiatin Chu – President of Asian Wave Alliance; Co-Founder of PLACE NYC, Co-President
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.
“In the summer of 2019, I was one of the parent site supervisors at the very first Youth4AM. It was very scrappy, I was one of two adults that were overseeing the twenty-five or so students in the Henry St. Manhattan site that we had back then and I am so happy to be able to speak — I believe every year since you guys have held this Youth4AM summer camp. It’s amazing that, through the will and the determination of the community, we can bring forth this study group — a self-sustaining group, that, where older students who’ve gone through the process are able to help other students and give them the ladder and have them make the very best choices and prepare them for the test. Now I see Angela has grown this into a leadership. Some of the visions I know she and I have talked about was the vision to help develop leaders, so not just get into a specialized high school — yes, that’s good — but what we really propel [is for] many of you to go forward into your colleges, maybe graduate school, and certainly into your professional life.”
Angela Hu – Co-Founder of New York Residents Alliance and Youth4AM
Angela Hu is one of the founders of the New York Residents Alliance and Youth4AM. Angela Hu is an advocate for the Chinese American community, supporting students in becoming future leaders beyond just academic success. She hopes to prepare students for forward-looking careers while building both hard and soft skills. Her mission is to foster future Chinese American leaders.
“…based on my experience working with the Chinese students, among my own peers and colleagues, I do find that Chinese are very strong in academics… but they do lack in management skills… let’s look at what is called the bamboo ceiling. This is the data for overall Asian Americans: while we have a 5.6% total population and 27% professionally in the U.S. and 30% of the graduates in the top 20 MBA [programs], we [are] only .03% of corporate offices. This is significantly disproportionate underrepresentation in leadership positions… I hope this data brings, not to be shocking, some awareness to you… So, as the English saying [goes], it takes a village to raise a kid — My wish, or the reason I do this, is really, I do believe it takes a village to raise a kid— and everyone can contribute in a different way. So let’s raise our kids to make sure they are able to be independent — financially independent and mentally independent.”
Donghui Zang – Co-Founder of New York Residents Alliance and Youth4AM
As one of the co-founders of the New York Residents Alliance and Youth4AM, Donghui Zhang believes strongly in the importance of education. Donghui Zhang has personally experienced the power of education, which through perseverance, he used to lift himself out of poverty. In return, he has become an advocate for education following his belief that everyone should have the same opportunities to live safely and thrive.
“What I want to say even more is that many parents and predecessors have fought for equal educational opportunities and admission chances for us. I have a few hopes for students in grades 8-12: 1) You must have confidence and not think that being a Chinese student means you can only study. We must change this stereotype…. Chinese individuals are not only good at studying but also capable of other things. Our good academic performance comes from hard work, and we should feel proud instead of being self-deprecating. 2) Everyone should have a sense of social responsibility. With so many predecessors fighting to preserve the SHSAT and winning the lawsuit against Harvard, I hope everyone can do something for the next generation, such as eliminating discrimination and poverty, and making society a better place. 3) Everyone must learn to think independently and avoid blind conformity. Learn to observe issues from multiple perspectives, listen to different opinions, and then form your own views. If you believe one argument is right and another is wrong, always have your own reasoning. This way, you can learn to think independently. Lastly, I hope everyone reads more books, especially Chinese literature, to discover themselves, find the value and meaning of life, and find the motivation to strive for success.”
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 regarding 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.
“…every one of you has to think: I can work hard and achieve something. And if the rules are not fair, we are going to make it fair, but do not apologize for doing things that are right… you have to come up and say what is important. And what is important here is fighting for the rights, for the equal rights — not equal outcomes… we want people to be able to achieve according to their merit, to their abilities, to their talents, to their commitment… so we have to think about what to do, and you, as kids who are getting ready, continue to question, build your skills, analyze what is being said — what is said by the people around you, the media, and make sure that you have [those] kinds of skills… the future is going to be different. You cannot accept or assume that things are always going to be the same, so the only thing you have, your greatest asset, is yourself, as an individual. So you have to build those skills because that’s what you take, wherever you go — and that, individual, you as an individual, is the most important minority.”
Al Suhu – President of Community Education Council 26
Al Suhu is a New York-born Chinese American who believes in the strength of education. He was recently re-elected to be President of the Community Education Council 26, which he had first stepped up to a few years ago due to the anti-Asian hate that was affecting the community. He listened to the petition led by AAPI parents and worked for the inclusion of AAPI history in the curriculum, which was approved through his and many others’ efforts in 2022. Al Suhu fights for what is important to the Asian American community, making countless efforts in education and promoting the involvement of Asian American in civic duties — to go out and vote.
“It’s very important for parents, and even students from the Asian community, to be involved in civic activities. We could not have achieved all the gains we have made without the support of the community. However, [in] this past cycle of elections, the participation rate of the Asian parents is very low, in terms of voting for candidates — and also in terms of the number of candidates who ran for seats. For example, in Chinatown, Manhattan, there were zero candidates who ran for a seat on the CEC (Community Education Council)… Very few, if any candidates are immigrants. We need more immigrants to step up. They can run and they should get involved in civics. I mean, think about it, I don’t think many of your parents participate in school — in the PTA or school leadership — that is not good. You have to talk to your parents and get them involved. It’s extremely important to be involved in these kinds of activities because it affects your future.”
Lu Zhao – Treasurer Community Education Council 28
As the treasurer for Community Education Council 28, Lu Zhao encourages people in the Asian American Community to think critically to support the community and climb to greater heights. Lu Zhao emphasizes the importance of being able to critically evaluate the opinions you hear around you and to question and think about the issues that surround us.
“I think we all heard about the CEC election, the affirmative action case — there’s a lot of wins recently, right? So, for [the] Asian community we can celebrate for that, but I think it’s also a good time to calm down, sink in, and to think about our future. It’s not gonna end, right? We have to understand why things like affirmative action exist, why so many people support it. We have to understand why so many Asian representatives, politicians, and celebrities, are standing up and speaking out actually for affirmative action… Now the question is — so what they propose, for example, affirmative action — does it really solve the problem?… So ask yourself, who benefits from it? How many people benefit from it? Does it really solve any fundamental root cause of the issue?… Give yourself a moment and think about it, you know, those big issues, and do not try to just follow the trend.”
Along with the speakers’ insightful presentations, each department within Youth4AM offered a glimpse into the inner workings of the program. Finally, parents got the opportunity to meet their students’ TAs in Zoom breakout rooms. Thank you to the speakers, students, parents, and TAs for making this event possible. We hope to see further growth in our leadership team and 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.
