Students at two of the middle schools AALEAD is present at in Maryland, Loiederman and Argyle, are celebrating another successful school year and the end of after-school programs for 2011-2012 with reflection, final cooking projects, lessons about community and even some fun games and activities.

Reflection focused on looking back at the school year, thinking about the good memories and friendships made in AALEAD and what to look forward to for next year.  Saying goodbye to the 8th graders got to be particularly hard but staff and students focused on what made their participation in AALEAD so special and wished them the best for high school.

Students also made a well-known Filipino desert dish called Halo Halo, consisting of shaved ice, milk, ube (purple yam jam) and fruits and nuts.  Students really enjoyed the unique flavors and learned about the background of eating Halo Halo in Filipino culture.  Students were also given the opportunity to learn more about mangoes and how to cut them properly.

Finally, AALEAD introduced some of the basic concepts of community, including the ever-increasing importance of it in today’s society.  Topics included different points of view over what makes a community and how community members can communicate effectively with each other.

Although AALEAD Middle School after-school programs are over for the time being, we were able to end the year on a high note and look forward to the coming adventures and time to spend together both during the summer and next year!

McDonald’s Owner/Operator, Glenn Kikuchi, proudly presents AALEAD students
with a contribution from McDonald’s and NBC4.

On Tuesday, May 29, 2012, NBC4 and McDonald’s recognized the youth development work of DC-based nonprofit, Asian American LEAD (AALEAD), in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The event was held at NBC4 Studios in DC. Glenn Kikuchi, local McDonald’s owner/operator presented AALEAD with a $5,000 contribution. Several members of AALEAD’s board, students, and staff were in attendance, including Surjeet Ahluwalia, Director of Operations:

“AALEAD is so honored to be recognized by NBC4 and McDonald’s for our work in the community. Their financial contribution will support our afterschool and mentoring programs and help our youth in developing leadership skills. We look forward to a continued partnership.”

Since its founding in 1998, AALEAD has provided youth development programs to hundreds of Asian American youth in the District of Columbia and Montgomery County, Maryland. AALEAD’s mission is to promote the well-being of low-income Asian American youth and families through education, leadership, and community building. Its staff deliver specialized after-school programs, one-on-one mentoring, academic support services and life-skill development for students, and assist parents with school-related issues affecting their children. AALEAD’s goal is to provide a nurturing environment and culturally-sensitive guidance so that each child served will be a contributing member of his or her community.

The celebration opened with welcoming remarks from NBC4 President and General Manager, Jackie Bradford, and was hosted by News4 Anchor, Eun Yang. Yang had been previously active in AALEAD’s programs as well as keynote speaker for its most recent Annual Dinner Gala in March. Additionally, the celebration highlighted the achievements of several Washingtonians active in the Asian community, including Dr. Franklin Odo, retired Director of Smithsonian’s Asian American Division, William C. Teng, Pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church, and Bel Leong-Hong, President and CEO of Knowledge Advantage, Inc. (KAI). Musical performances from the Strathmore String Quartet were also featured throughout the event.

Check out a great clip from the event below!

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

On Thursday, May 17th, AALEAD was invited to attend an event at The Fort Meade Military Base to commemorate Asian Pacific American Month. Executive Director, Rosetta Lai, was asked to be the keynote speaker of the event! Rosetta spoke on the theme of the event; “striving for excellence in Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion.”

An audience of around 200 Fort Meade Community Service Members and Civilians attended. The event included cultural performances (Filipino, Hawaiian, and Chinese Dragon dancing) and free Asian cuisine samplings. It was a great event to attend and to meet Members who serve and protect our country!

Thank you to Col. Rothstein, Sgt. Bass, Sgt. Spiller, and to the rest of the Service Members and Special Guests whom we met that day!

And a special thank you to an all-star AALEAD Volunteer and Mentor who invited AALEAD to the event, PS1 Vince Lam!

Loiederman MS AALEADers represented at their International Night at the end of April. International Night was brought back after a year-long hiatus by Ms. Guzman and our students were lucky to be a part of this exciting event. AALEADers represented the Philippines, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. Special thanks to Mekka, Charmaine, Del Eugene and Michelle for contributing to our table and representing AALEAD and to Ms. Howell for reeling us in for this event!

Check out photos below from the event.

This spring, Bancroft AALEAD is proudly participating in Mt. Pleasant’s Youth Arts Fair! This year’s theme is “the Neighborhood”, which has beautifully coincided with our students ongoing exploration of what it means to “Get Involved … in Community”.

You-yeon Lee, our 1-2nd grade teacher at Bancroft AALEAD describes her class’ projects, saying: “The first project is called Mt.Pleasant through our eyes. We took a little field trip to Mt. Pleasant and students took  turns to take pictures of the neighborhood with a disposable camera. Students wrote about what they know about or how they feel about the place which they took pictures of. The second project was a miniature of Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. Students gathered milk cartons and decorated them as restaurants, stores, Bancroft Elementary School, etc. The final one was a collaborative painting project on a big banner/canvas. Students were asked to draw and paint about the neighborhood they would like to live in. They were asked to come up with a title of the project, and they came up with, “Welcome to Our Backyard!”

Diana Offutt, our 3-5th grade teacher, says that her students “collaborated in small groups to create a miniature view of Mt. Pleasant. Art pieces included a mini model of store fronts on Mt. Pleasant’s Main Street.  Other students chose to create a scaled down version of their school, Bancroft Elementary, and their beloved soccer field.  Children created jersey’s, landscapes, goal posts, and playground equipment out of materials such a Popsicle sticks, boxes, glitter, construction paper, and paint to bring their miniature pieces to life.”

Here are some pictures of some of these works in progress:

The finished products can be seen on display in businesses throughout Mt. Pleasant. “Art Walk” maps highlighting the exhibit locations are available at the Mt. Pleasant Interim Library (3162 Mt. Pleasant Street) and the Mt. Pleasant Care Pharmacy. Next time you’re in Mt. Pleasant, be sure to check out the work of our Bancroft AALEADers along side artwork from many other students in the community!

Thank you to the Mount Pleasant Business Association (MPBA) and the Friends of Mt. Pleasant Library for sponsoring the Arts Fair. Special thanks also to Joanie Majeed for all of her hard work on the fair and for coming out to speak to our students earlier in the year.

Asian American LEAD would like to recognize Ramanuja Sreenivasan, an 8th grade AALEADer attending Eastern Middle School, for taking home first place in the 2012 “Sweet Sixteen” playoffs of the Maryland Scholastic Chess Championship! Ram’s victory a few months ago, landed him a four-year chess scholarship to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Congratulations!

“Even though it has been a couple months after my victory at UMBC, I still feel ecstatic about winning a four year scholarship,” said Ram. “The tournament felt more like a dream than reality and I found myself playing at my peak level.”

Ram’s chess career started when he was in the 3rd grade, living in Florida, with a teacher who encouraged Ram to play his best every game.

Ram joined AALEAD this year and has been a very active leader at Eastern. He shared his appreciation and said, “AALEAD, to be honest, has always felt like a great big family. [AALEAD's] support along with my friends and family, will definitely help me grow not only as a chess player, but as a person as well.”

One last message from Ram: “Before I forget, I would like to thank AALEAD as a whole for always being there for me!”

We wish Ram the best of luck at the Maryland Open, which starts today and throughout the weekend!!

AALEAD students from Montgomery County helped to make a difference and clean up the environment by participating in a Park Clean-Up!  With the help of the Rock Creek Conservancy and the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL), almost forty students from AALEAD programs got together to help rid Matthew Henson State Park of a serious amount of trash and debris.  Many of the students actually live in the surrounding homes and were surprised by the amount of litter in their neighborhood park.  Students really showed their resiliency and passion for community service by working for 3 hours on a large swath of the park.  Items picked up varied between plastic bags, bottles and Styrofoam containers to even car tires.  Staff noticed how much students rose to the cause; “I really saw some growth in the students!” said Francine Gorres, the High School Program Coordinator.

AALEAD is so proud of our students for their hard work and for fostering the spirit of giving back to your community.

Thanks again to Rock Creek Conservancy (http://www.rockcreekconservancy.org/) for and CAPAL (http://www.capal.org/) for providing snacks and supplies!