Monday, April 20, 2009

High School Students visit CAPITAL ONE


Capital One invited students for a financial literacy workshop and a tour of their campus.
Youth were surprised to find a "green" atrium, a gym, and a recreation room within the work building!



Students were able to job shadow one-on-one with two employees, who spoke about their life paths and their jobs!





Thank you Capital One for an amazing day!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

AALEAD and the DC Council promote community relations through Basketball





On March 29, 2009, Asian American LEAD held its “AALEAD’s Got Game?” basketball tournament at Bell Multicultural High School, which featured DC Councilmember Tommy Wells and members of his staff. About 100 people were in attendance to see the towering adults engaged in friendly competition with AALEAD’s high school students. During the 5-on-5 game, AALEAD’s team had a surprising early run of 8-0. However, with a few well-placed shots from Mr. Wells himself, the game was tied with only 1 minute left. At the last moment, however, AALEAD’s students made one last push and scored the winning point to win the game.

Following the DC Council game, twelve other AALEAD student teams competed in 3-on-3, half-court games for the 1st place trophy. The competition was intense; however, students never lost sight of the importance of good sportsmanship. In addition to participating in the games, students also assisted staff in running the concessions stand to help fundraise for the event. The event was a tremendous success and provided both students and DC Council members a fun and active way of getting to know each other.

Friday, April 03, 2009

AALEAD students attend Vital Voices event at the Kennedy Center!

On Thursday, March 19th, AALEAD students were invited to a Vital Voices Global Leadership Award Ceremony. It was an inspiring night for all to hear powerful stories from women who had turned their adversities into opportunities to help others.

The event took place in Washington DC's John F. Kennedy Center and drew celebrity presenters such as Maria Bello, Sally Field, Candice Bergen, Diane von Firstenberg, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Nicholas Krstof, Maggie Grace, Ben Affleck and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. The benefit honored courageous women leaders who have overcome poverty, human trafficking, violence against women and other forms of discrimination to promote positive change in their communities. Receiving the Global Trailblazer award was special guest Hillary Rodham Clinton.



One of our students reactions to the event:
"The vital Voices Award Ceremony was one of the most if not THE most inspirational and up-lifting events that I have attended in my whole life. Those were some women and I have so much respect and support for them, because of the powerful things they do in their everyday lives. I want to thank Vital Voices for inviting us and I would love to go again next year!"
-Farida Uddin, Einstein High School

After the event, HongQian Zhou, a senior at Wilson High School was interviewed for her reaction. As she walked through the reception, she had the chance to take a photo with actress Maggie Grace!