Reflection for Civic Engagement & Leadership Summer Academy

Yaoyao Zheng

Throughout the past five days, my journey has been filled with numerous enriching experiences, particularly in the areas of research, politics, and advocacy. I had no idea it took so much to put together a piece of well-written research, and I find the process fascinating. Additionally, I must express my sincere appreciation to Ms. Serena and Mr. Muzhi, who have been amazing instructors throughout this journey. Their guidance and expertise have been instrumental in helping me understand a lot and have significantly contributed to my personal growth in these areas. Prior to attending this academy, I had limited exposure to the world of advocacy. However, since delving into this academy, I have discovered a genuine passion for it. It has been an incredible opportunity for personal growth and exploration.

Prajith Uppalapati

I had a great experience participating in the YUAN Foundation’s civic engagement summer program. Over the course of a week, I immersed myself in a wealth of valuable information and knowledge. Through engaging workshops and discussions, I honed my leadership skills, deepened my understanding of politics, and explored the importance of civic engagement. My research project on automation and AI’s impact on job replacement provided me with valuable insights on the topic. Moreover, I had the privilege of listening to numerous expert speakers, further enriching my learning experience. Overall, this program has been an invaluable opportunity for personal growth and intellectual exploration.

Francois Chen

Our five-day camp on civic engagement has brought about many new perspectives. The lectures given by our instructors and guest speakers, as well as my personal research on the poverty problem, taught me a few practical skills and helped me grasp the need for activism. Positive change is only possible through collective, unflagging effort. Activism is the oil that keeps the gears of the world turning incessantly. Without it, America wouldn’t have come this far. Yet, it is still imperfect. My experience over the past 5 days has helped me better grasp this situation and will surely contribute to my efforts in the future.

Kevin Wei

Despite only attending three sessions this week, I have gained a wealth of knowledge on various topics related to civic engagement. The guest speakers provided valuable insights into the workings of our government, while the interactive activities during the lectures helped me develop my critical thinking skills. These past three days have been truly unforgettable. Discussing ideas with Jiaye has been both enjoyable and thought-provoking, particularly on the topic of environmental awareness. I am grateful to Muzhi and Serena for their hard work in organizing and delivering the program. Thank you, Yuan Foundation, for providing me with this wonderful opportunity to engage in this experience.

Elena Du

Over my time at the Civic Engagement and Leadership online camp, I was able to experience a way to engage in the problems society faces around me and learn multiple ways on how leaders find ways to fix these problems. I think this camp was a great course for me to take also because I am taking AP gov next school year. It was very stimulating to create my own policy and advocate a solution for a problem that has been on my mind for a while in my community, or more specifically, school. I am further inspired in my local, state, and even national government from this course and this will definitely lead me to engage in civics in the future, whether it be a small issue for the people around me or a large-scale national active movement.

Ray Cai

I believe this course was very good in providing everything I needed to know to write the letter. It also taught me many other things such as research, leadership, and the importance of political activism.

Amy Lang

I am proud to say that this past week has taught me what it means to become a leader in advocacy. I have been challenged by this camp to understand the fundamentals of civic engagement and leadership- of advocacy and empowerment. I feel more confident in pursuing my own advocacy efforts and becoming a leader in my own community. This camp has shown me the fundamentals of conducting effective acts of civic engagement through my research, ideas and presentation and I am glad to have taken this opportunity to become an active member of my community. I wholeheartedly thank you.

Brian Tu

During my time in the civic engagement summer program, I was able to learn more than I ever knew about leadership, politics, and advocacy. On day one of the program, I entered with some knowledge on leadership and politics from previous experiences and left with a plethora of information and concepts about leadership and politics on the last day. The teachers, Ms. Serena and Mr. Muzhi did an amazing and excellent job by teaching us many important concepts about leadership and politics, from Government structures, ways to take notes, how to address people, how to research and analyze issues, how to create policies, teamwork, time management, email etiquette,and many more concepts, all the while keeping us entertained and interested. The guest speakers of the program also taught us many fascinating things, from the division of powers among levels of Government, the history of Asian Americans and the way they were treated, and ways to improve your capabilities of public speaking. In conclusion, this program has been a wonderful and enjoyable experience to have, and I yearn to find similar experiences in the future.

Jiaye Zeng

I am very glad to have the opportunity and time to make up for everything I missed during my previous session. This camp was very nostalgic as I learned lots of things that I had learned last year in government and politics. At the same time expanding and learning new topics related to civic political advocacy and leadership. I am grateful for my project partners Ray and Kevin without them our letter wouldn’t be going so smoothly. I also want to thank Serena, Muzhi and all the other speakers who have come to teach and talk making the class engaging. And overall, it was a fun time, thank you.

Sally Wu (Francois’s mom)

We are very happy for my son to join the Civic engagement & Leadership Summer Academy. It’s well organized and the instructors are knowledgeable and the coordinator of the class is very professional. The training documents are very well prepared and there’s quite a lot interactive discussions and workshops during the class.

François learned a lot about the government and policies, how to define issue and do research and analysis, how to be a leader and etc. And though the case study, he can try to apply what he learned in class and well prepared him for the competitions and future studies. I believe this experience also benefit him a lot in future for both college application, career seeking and success in life. Really appreciated the effort from the coaches, coordinators and Yuan foundation.

Yaxiang Zheng(Yaoyao’s mom)

Thank you so much to the Yuan Foundation for organizing this Civic Engagement & Leadership Summer Camp, my daughter enjoyed it so much. She learned a lot of useful information and skills. She praised the two great teachers she met! The teachers allowed the students to express their opinions freely and gave them timely feedback. We will be back next year!

Shenghua Wei (Kevin’s Dad)

My child Kevin was honored to attend the Civic Engagement & Leadership Summer Camp, where he gained knowledge and soft skills that he could not learn in the classroom. The preparation, content, high level of instruction, and knowledge of the teachers helped my child understand many truths, expand his knowledge, and deepen his vision, which will help him in his future academic and life plans. I would like to thank the teachers for their hard work and the Yuan Foundation staff for her timely and patient coordination and communication.