Recap: 2010 JACL Collegiate DC Leadership Conference
OVERVIEW
The second annual JACL Collegiate Leadership Conference took place in Washington, DC in June 2010. Activities for the conference included a welcome reception with Representative Mike Honda and Representative Doris Matsui, leadership training, Asian Pacific American Issues Roundtable, and tours of Japanese American Monument to Patriotism and Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
WORKSHOPS
The conference workshops covered topics including the following:
''When Hate Hits You," Bill Yoshino and Christine Munteanu, JACL
''Asian Pacific American History," Frank Wu, University of California Hastings College of Law Dean
''Lessons from History: 9066 to 9/11," Jean Kariya, WWII Relocation Center Survivor and
''Multiracial Identity," Christine Munteanu, JACL Ford Fellow
''APIA Voting Power and the 2010 Election," Alvina Yeh, APIA Vote
''Bridging Beyond Campus: Public Policy and Campus Organizing," Phillip Ozaki and Christine Munteanu, JACL
IMPACT
Two of the 2009 Collegiate Conference Attendees describe the impacts the conference had on them:
Jess Kyo: “What was really amazing about the conference though, was that I was able to meet a diverse group of peers who were also eager to learn how to inspire change in our communities. The group project to address a current event and create a campus outreach plan was probably the best part, aside from getting to network with other students and adult allies. My group worked to create an outreach plan around protesting Arizona SB 1070, whose larger ramifications essentially lead to a legalization of racial profiling. It was empowering to be able to design a project through which other students could engage their peers and raise awareness
around this discriminatory law, and I felt that the conference overall gave me many tools that I can utilize to pursue my community organizing endeavors.”
Elisa Lim: "Everyone came from different backgrounds but at the conference, I felt as if we were working together as one to find ways to promote and advocate for Asian American awareness and look at the issues. I got to meet a lot of people that were from the coasts which was different since they are more heavily populated with the Asian American population compared to the Midwest. Hearing how they experience their daily life on their respective campuses help me think about what was possible for the Midwest."
JACL Collegiate Leadership Conference Participants 2010
Umi Claywell, Indiana University at Purdue
Deborah Feng, Columbia University
Mara Fink, St. Olaf College
Sharon Kim, Northwestern University
Jessica Kyo, City College of San Francisco
Billy Li, University of Illinois at Chicago
Elisa Lim, University of Illinois at Chicago
Joseph Lin, New York University
Hillary Nakano, UC Santa Barbara
Saima Toppa, RIce University
Kimberly Uyeyama, University of Southern California
Belle Yan, Columbia University
Carmen Ye, UC Berkeley
Victoria Yee, Stanford