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 [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

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], [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story