Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Happy Holidays from AALEAD!

Happy Holidays from all of the students, families, and staff of AALEAD!

See you all in 2010!


AALEAD Maryland's 2009 Holiday Party!


On Friday, December 11th, our Maryland students, mentees, mentors and community members who have supported AALEAD this year attended our annual Holiday Party. This year we filled up the Gilchrist Center for Cultural Diversity in downtown Wheaton. Students from Blair and Einstein High Schools performed a wide variety of cultural dances, songs and other performances for the enjoyment of everyone.

A special thanks to The Asian Pacific America Bar Association of DC for their continued support of our students! They were kind enough to gather together books which they donated as gifts. As you can see...they were very appreciative.

Thanks to everyone who came out!!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!



Thursday, December 17, 2009

SUSHI class at AALEAD


AALEAD held a mini workshop on “Sushi; its history and how to make it”, which was well attended by the students on December 3rd 2009 in DC. Students had to do a group activity at the start where they explored what Sushi means and how did it become very famous. Students found it interesting that it started from China first and became famous in Japan afterwards. They were also given orientation about the material being used especially ingredients and tools required to make it.


It was great fun for all the students to see first how it’s being done and then making different kinds of Sushi by themselves.


Wednesday, December 16, 2009

AALEAD celeberates Holiday Party in DC!



AALEAD just had a wonderful Holiday celebration this Monday (December 14th) held at Martin Luther King Library in DC. It was great to see various colorful presentations by elementary school students from Thomson and Bancroft and SSP students.

Holiday Party has been the heart of celebrations at AALEAD, where students are being encouraged to share their talent with us. This time different performances included cultural dances, Xmas songs, break dance, fashion show etc.



AALEAd would like to acknowledge OBM, IMB and Deloitte for their support in terms of providing gifts donation for the elementary students. We are grateful to all the guests who joined us in celebrating the Holiday Party.

Henna tattoo workshop

On Wednesday November 18 2009, AALEAD Girls Program organized a workshop on Henna tattoo. The students learnt some interesting facts about henna and how it is used in different cultures. They also watched a video on how it’s very traditional and being done in South Asian region especially in Pakistan. They were very excited about using henna by themselves so they developed some designs and patterns on the paper, and later put it on their hands.



"We learnt that henna is used in a lot of cultures in particular South Asia, Middle East, and Northern Africa. Henna can be used on the hands, feet, and also as a hair dye. Henna is derived from a plant. Looking and designing henna yesterday was so fun everyone got into it including the boys and staff members. We hope to have another henna workshop in the future with more girls. “By the students.

“I enjoyed the Henna Tattoo Workshop a lot as I was able to express myself through the henna and learn about henna. Henna gave me a chance to doodle on my arms, unlike using pens and markers. I’ll definitely practice with henna later on.” another student

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

AALEAD goes to Virginia BEACH



Dec 4th to the 6th, 2009

Watch the Community Summit Trailer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ssY0S3mv4

Watch Performances!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnSQF7_8m_I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0uGul-Vr70&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgYUC-uxVac&feature=related


A large number of Filipino American student organizations banded together this week to promote a "Community Summit" at the Philippine Cultural Center of Virginia. These organizations worked under the name FAYA (Filipino American Youth Alliance). These students put together a full days worth of programs and workshops to discuss issues such as; cultural identity, social issues, and the future of the students' role in the community.
AALEAD was able to bring down 8 students to this event. As our students registered, they were introduced to different student organizers from the "Summit". The AALEAD students began to help with set up and organizing the workshop rooms. The workshops focused on personal stories, financial literacy, healthy lifestyles, and group dialogues. Between workshops, students began to hear from guest speakers who created the foundation for community organizing in the Filipino American community at Hampton Roads.

Following comments are from one of our high school students, David Doan:

Going to Virginia Beach was one of the most interesting trips we had at AALEAD. We learned a lot of stuff like about the Filipino culture. We learned about how to conserve money and we also put together skits and performances. We put together skits and the end of the day after all the workshops and hardworking we used to the skits to show what we learned. We met a lot of new people and the students there were awesome! The adults there were also very helpful.

After the trip to Virginia Beach, it inspired me and also my cousin to help AALEAD be as outstanding as the program down in VA Beach. The program down there is mostly student ran with little or no adult help. If we could atleast do what they are doing we can make AALEAD a better place for other people to come and join our program.




Wednesday, December 09, 2009

AALEAD HOLIDAY PARTIES!

Dear friends and supporters,

You are invited to join us for our 2009 Holiday Parties!
FRIDAY, DEC 11th 5-7pm : MD Holiday Party @ Gilchrist Community Center

MONDAY, DEC 14th 5-7pm: DC Holiday Party @ MLK Library







Tuesday, December 08, 2009

116 Sack Lunches For Those Less Fortunate...Way To Go AALEAD'ers!

November 21st, 2009 seventeen of Maryland's middle and high schoolers united to create, package, and deliver sack lunches to Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless. In total 116 sack lunches were made, and each lunch included an encouraging letter hand written by the students themselves.


____________________________________________________________
Two students wrote about their experience and answered the following question:
"Does helping others help me to be a better person? Why?"

My name is Kaison Wu. I come from a 100% Chinese family. I currently attend A. Mario Loiederman for the creative and performing arts. I enjoy art/chorus (electives). I am an 8th grader. I found AALEAD when my cousins went to AALEAD at Loiederman 2 years ago. This is my 3rd year in AALEAD. The first year was a blast, second year…well…okay, 3rd is undecided, it’s going well so far.Helping others does help yourself because you learn to spread knowledge to others, so they know or earn a certain need. When I help someone it helps me feel accomplished because it makes me know that I am making this world a better place.

- Kaison 8th grader

My name is JJ Querubin. I am in the 7th grade. I go to A. Mario Loiederman Middle School. The reason why I joined AALEAD is because my brother and sister were in it and my parents wanted me to join it, so I did. So when I went to the SSL hour (student service learning) to make sandwiches for the homeless, it made me a better person because knowing that people aren’t starving from food because some very nice Asian people gave them some great sandwiches. I’m not just saying that the people got food, I’m saying because my mom when she was little she was poor so she had to work at a very young age so that makes me so happy; and makes me feel like a better person.

- JJ 7th grader


Monday, December 07, 2009

December's Mentoring Event




This December, the Mentoring Program visited a museum yet unvisited by many of our pairs, and attended a Card Making Event at the US Postal Museum. Despite the weather (slushy and cold), 15 people represented AALEAD, some old friends and others new. Together, we learned special techniques for making beautiful greeting cards. The materials were bountiful, and ranged from stamps and stencils, to recycled paper samples and snowflake coffee filters.

After making two cards, we crossed the street back to Union Station, where we spent a short time looking at the model train exhibit and holiday tree, both gifts from Norway. Christine explained what the gnomes/elves standing next to the train tracks represented, and we finished with a group photo near the tree.

We hope our pairs, their friends, and families enjoy the rest of 2009!

AALEAD Maryland's Holiday Party!

Those of you who have been follow AALEAD on our blog are invited to our Maryland Holiday party this Friday!

Students and families from our Middle School, High School, Mentoring and Family Strengthening Programs will all be in attendance, as well as supportive members of the community. We are planning an exciting evening of student performances, contests and reflecting on the year to date, so if you have time, please come out and enjoy some food!
What: 2009 AALEAD MD Holiday Party
When: Friday, December 11th 5 - 7pm
Where: Gilchrist Center for Cultural Diversity (11319 Elkin Street; Wheaton, MD 20902)
Hope to see you on the 11th! If you have any questions or would like to RSVP, please feel free to call or email jhenry@aalead.org.






Thursday, December 03, 2009

Who Loves Bubble Tea?!?

The Maryland Middle schools continued our cultural journey this week by having a presentation and activity done about China/Taiwan. We learned about the history of bubble tea, and the students were able to make some of their own to drink. Thank you to Karen, our guest, for teaching us how to make such a delicious drink. Henry from Eastern Middle School demonstrates in this video how to make bubble tea...enjoy and bottoms up!

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Thanks to Mr. George Cabalu, AALEAD will be a little warmer this winter


It was one of the first chilly Fall days of the year. Naturally, the office was cold in the morning, prompting AALEAD staff to activate the heat. To our dismay, the heat repeatedly refused to turn on.

Fortunately, Mr. George Cabalu, understanding the seriousness of the situation and the negative impact it would have on our community center and youth, generously offered to donate a brand new water heater. He additionally offered to have our gutter repaired. We are now rest-assured that our office and programs will be well-heated and continue to run comfortably and smoothly.

From all of us at AALEAD, thanks Mr. Cabalu!