Recap: 2009 JACL Collegiate DC Leadership Conference
Overview
The first annual JACL Collegiate Leadership Conference took place in Washington, DC in late June 2009. Activities for the conference included a welcome reception with Congressman Mike Honda, a roundtable discussion focusing on Asian American issues, and an advocacy training session on the topic of “Bridging Beyond Campus: Public Policy and Campus Organizations.”
Workshops
The conference workshops covered topics including the following:
“History of APA’s – From Railroads to the New Millennium,” Phil Nash, Asian American Studies, University of Maryland
“Based Based Incidents in Minority Communities,” Michael Lieberman, Anti-Defamation League
“The Census and the APA Community,” Larry Shinagawa, Asian American Studies, University of Maryland
“Asian Americans and the Obama Administration”
In addition, conference attendees had the chance to explore Washington, DC through tours of the National Museum of American history, the Capital, and the Japanese American Memorial.
Impact
Four of the 2009 Collegiate Conference Attendees describe the impacts the conference had on them:
Chris Batalon: “The conference…helped me to better realize how to engage advocacy work with marginalized communities. My favorite part of the conference is a tie between being a part of the wonderful program of workshops that were created for the conference, and visiting different sites and monuments to help further our knowledge about our nation and its history.”
Amber Thichangtong: “[After] the conference I really focused on raising awareness about hate crimes at [my college] Old Dominion University which led me to build upon my idea that there is a need to collaborate more with organizations like the NAACP. Participating in the conference allowed me to put my ideas and aspirations into focus and how building Asian Pacific American Student Union on campus could help me meet those goals. I also think I learned a lot about my personality after [working with] a group of people I didn't know [at the Collegiate Conference].”
Cynthia Chang: “As soon as I got the email about the JACL conference, I applied right away! The conference definitely exceeded my expectations. The conference was small and close-knit so that we could truly spend time to get to know each other. We touched on past and current issues that apply to everyone, not just Japanese Americans. The speakers were knowledgeable and able to answer everyone's questions.”
Cindy Xie: “I think what I took away most from the conference is the fact that Asian representation in the political sector has grown a lot in the past decade (especially with the Obama administration). However, there is still a lot more room for more Asian representation and we should all strive to help make that happen.”
JACL Collegiate Leadership Conference Participants 2009
Chris Batalon, University of Washington
Cynthia Chang, University of Florida
Tiffany Hiramine, University of California, Davis
Sean Miura, University of Southern California
Sondra Morishima, New York University
David Motoyoshi, University of Minnesota
Annie Kim Noguchi, University of California, Berkeley
Sean Palmer, University of Colorado at Boulder
Niralee Shah, Williams College
Amber Thichangthong, Old Dominion University
Ashley Vij, George Washington University
Cindy Xie, Fordham University
Gloria Yun, Saint Michael’s College