By Craig Yamaguchi SYLP student This camp has improved my leadership abilities a lot. It has helped me to believe in what I do and learn more about life lessons and goals for the future. The speakers that have come through for the camp really affected me in many ways. The speakers who were in [...]

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By Eric Huynh SYLP student There’s no better feeling than excelling at what you do. No one would’ve known that a 14-year-old student would be a part of something much bigger and be known around the nation. After being coached by several top players in the world and learning from their success, I set out [...]

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By Jennifer Khuu SYLP student Everyone has his or her own personal legend. While being a participant at the Summer Youth Leadership Program, founded by the publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, Assunta Ng, I’ve been able to hear amazing guest speakers and learn a little bit more about myself. We should all do what [...]

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By Christina Nguyen SYLP student As an Asian American, you have to do what people tell you to do in order to “succeed.” There is too much pressure  on our shoulders, whether it’s listening to parents grumble about chores to knowing who to fall in love with. Letting people tell you what you want isn’t [...]

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By Sandy Yee SYLP student In a world full of diversity often come racial disputes, which can also be identified as racial micro aggressions, forms of subtle discrimination. Because they’re so subtle, not everyone realizes that they happen. People assume that discrimination equals hate crimes, violence, and racial slurs. However, treating others differently is also [...]

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By Chloe Choi SYLP student The Summer Youth Leadership Program focuses on educating, empathizing, and empowering the youth of today. One of our main focuses was on the discrimination against minorities, primarily the Asian population. Our group discussed different forms of discrimination that Asian Americans face and ways to respond to these. As we sat [...]

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By Brandon Wong SYLP student The weeks I spent in the Summer Youth Leadership Program have been inspirational and have changed me. I met new friends, learned more about Asian Americans, and learned from many great speakers. My favorite speaker would have to be Thach Nguyen. He’s like a role model for me. Thach dreams [...]

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By Shusuke Sugihara SYLP student The Summer Youth Leadership Program taught me many things this summer. We have learned about racism and stereotypes of Asian Americans through different speakers, all of whom are successful people. The speeches made me think about one of the biggest problems in our society: racism. People believe that people are [...]

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By Alan Reilly SYLP student When I was in American school, in almost every single class I had, there was always someone who asked me the question, “Why are Asian people so smart?” I didn’t really know the answer when they asked, but as I continue my education here [at the Summer Youth Leadership Program], [...]

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Eric Chan SYLP student As I progress through the Summer Youth Leadership Program, I’m starting to realize a lot of things about being Asian American and how stereotypes can affect my future goals and success. Growing up with first generation Chinese American parents and being the oldest child, I am expected to lead and pave [...]

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By Vivian Chan SYLP student Time is inevitable. The clock ticks continuously as our lives grow shorter. As one generation fades, the other steps in. Asian Americans are viewed as a stereotypical group of people who keep to themselves and walk their path with their eyes shut. But which generation is this describing? The sons [...]

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By Chris Lee SYLP student Stereotypes … now where do I begin? Stereotypes are extremely common in our culture. Whether you are judged by your race or by how you act, stereotypes will be difficult to stop. Our culture has been adapted to judge someone based on their appearance. What we can control is making [...]

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By Ryan Wong SYLP student Over the course of our lives, we have been faced with a bunch of stereotypes, such as, Asians have small eyes or Asians eat rice every day. I have seen people with really big eyes, and they are Asian. Also, we eat things besides rice, like noodles. People should think [...]

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By Harrison Lo SYLP student Asian Americans were thought to be ninjas, to be seen and yet unseen in society. We are seen as the minority group that has it best. We can take the racist remarks and comments as if they are nothing. Why has this become the image of Asians today? We hardly [...]

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By Assunta Ng By Assunta Ng Northwest Asian Weekly Since the founding of our Summer Youth Leadership Program (SYLP) in 1995, more than 500 students have benefited. The Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the newspaper, created the three-week, all-expenses-paid leadership and community-building training camp to benefit more than 30 greater Seattle area [...]

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By Assunta Ng   Aug. 26 marked the success of several months of hard work, dedication, and commitment in the Chinese community. In Chinatown, there were two separate events held at the same time, both for bettering the community. At the House of Hong dinner for the surveillance camera project, to fight against crime, 350 [...]

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