By Andrea Sison Festival Indonesia was a tiring but fulfilling experience. Since I volunteered for the first shift, I saw how the festival came to be. It was very exciting to see how the festival started coming to life. It was also fun to see how the number of people who came to enjoy this event gradually increased. I helped with setting up signs and the umbrella designing contest. The umbrella designing contest was mostly joined by kids. I enjoyed my time helping the participants and conversing with them. The kids were very creative and made fun designs that attracted a lot of people’s attention. The people from VIDA Florida, the organization that organized the festival, were also very nice. They were constantly asking if we were okay and they always tried to make sure we are comfortable when we are doing our tasks. They offered us food and drinks constantly, especially because it was a hot day. While volunteering I also met a few people who I got to be friends with. This was a great opportunity for me to meet other students from different schools. In between tasks, I was allowed to enjoy the festival as well. I was fascinated with the different booths that were there. There were booths that had traditional clothes, art, and food. It was a fun way to learn and experience Indonesian culture.
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By Emme Lee My name is Emme Lee and I am the newly elected Co-Captain External of the REACH Dragon Boat Team.
On Saturday June 15th, REACH participated in the CAACF Duan Wu Festival at Lake Fairview Park. The Duan Wu Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, is a Chinese traditional holiday held every year on May 5th. According to legend, the festival started when a beloved poet named Qu Yuan drowned himself in a river. The locals, who admired him very much, rushed out in boats to find his body. Unfortunately, he was never found. In despair, his admirers threw rice balls into the river, in hopes the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan’s body. Eating rice balls, also known as zong zi, is now a tradition enjoyed by many at the Duan Wu Festival. At the festival, REACH members learned the basics of dragon boat paddling and had the wonderful chance to row in a race. I know I speak for all of the paddlers when I say we had an exciting time. I genuinely hope all REACH members can experience how invigorating a dragon boat race can be, especially with a team as amazing as REACH. For this year’s Dragon Boat season, my aim is to introduce new REACH members to the sport and get them excited about it. I believe that the Dragon Boat Team is a crucial part of REACH because of the time we spend practicing and bonding with each other. By Jiselle Lee On Saturday June 1st, the Asian American Heritage Council (AAHC) held the Asian Cultural Festival at Enchanted Nights Banquet Hall.
Each May, AAHC holds this event to celebrate Asian Pacific American Cultural Heritage Month, a time where Asian Americans can come together to celebrate their cultures. The venue is filled with booths to showcase business vendors, ethnic cuisines and merchandise that are representative of Asia. A cultural show is presented by the various Asian countries, such as China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and more. In addition, sponsorship of the festival benefits the AAHC Asian Student Achievers’ Scholastic Awards. Held in November, the scholarships awarded at the event will honor and recognize deserving Asian American students for their academic excellence and outstanding community service. REACH members are encouraged to apply for these scholarships, as they are extremely beneficial to high school students planning for college. For REACH, the Asian Cultural Festival always marks the beginning of the new term for our Executive Board. During the preparation process, we undergo a transition of power from senior officers to new officers. This event is the perfect opportunity for the officers to learn the ropes of volunteering with REACH. Through job shadowing, the high school coordinators can pick up on the tips and tricks that in-charges have acquired from their years of volunteer experiences with REACH. In conclusion, the Asian Cultural Festival is always a fun event to take part in. Over the next few events, the new officers will be able to teach incoming members everything that they have learned from volunteering with REACH by the time the Asian Cultural Festival comes around next year. By Chloe Sakr The Asian Cultural Festival was electric, exciting, and insanely fun. Being apart of REACH and volunteering at events like this is always an opportunity I am eager to take part because it allows me to not only meet students from other high schools and counties, but also be apart of the Asian American community of Central Florida. Being able to do a double shift was a great way to see the whole festival come together, flourish, and then come to a close at the end of the day. I love participating in volunteer groups because it’s fun to see how all of our work behind the scenes helps it come together and orchestrate while we ourselves, are making new friends and bonding with each other. Entertained with live music and dancing, we were able to make sure everything ran smoothly while being able to enjoy the food and performances. As a new member and officer of REACH, I am slowly becoming more assimilated into the Asian American community to expand my involvement and learn about other Asian cultures and other Asian countries.
Written By Alex Tao This year was the second year that myself and REACH participated in the UAP Christmas Mall event. For those who don't know what the Christmas Mall is, every year, United Against Poverty, an Orlando-based organization that fights poverty, holds a mall where parents can shop for Christmas presents at an affordable price. This event always happens on the second Saturday of December and requires many volunteers and donations. This is where REACH is involved in the process. REACH officers from different schools collect toys from ASA's, honor societies, and other clubs that they are associated with. These brand new toys are then sold in the mall at either $1, $3, or $5. In addition to supplying toys, REACH officers and volunteers also help out on the day of the event. This year, we were able to have around 50+ volunteers show up and help around the center. One of our main focuses this year was in the recruitment of Spanish speaking volunteers, since many of the families shopping at the mall are of Hispanic origin. We were able to get around 8 volunteers from different schools by contacting Spanish Honor Societies and offering hours for their members if they came to the event. This year, I worked in the parking lot and I can definitely say that it was a lot more smoother than last year. UAP was able to assign families specific time slots, so, this year, there wasn't any congestion in the parking lot. My second shift was working in the grocery program, where I stocked and cleaned the shelves with a couple other volunteers. Overall, the event was a success, and we were even able to finish cleaning up ahead of schedule. Written by Jiselle Lee REACH volunteered at United Against Poverty (UAP) Christmas Mall for the second time on Saturday, December 8th, 2018. At this event, I was an in-charge of the grocery market volunteers. It was my first experience as an in-charge, so I learned a lot about my leadership abilities. Stepping out of my comfort zone, I directed the large group of REACH volunteers by separating them into smaller groups, and I managed their workload by assigning them specific jobs to do. Together, we were able to finish cleaning and sorting through all of the shelves in the grocery market in under eight hours, as well as help out some of the customers along the way. This was an exciting experience of self-discovery for me; we achieved such great success from our hard work. The UAP Christmas Mall is a great event to practice taking initiative and team building. Future REACH officers and volunteers should keep an eye out for this event because it is a great opportunity to exercise these fundamental life skills. If you are interested in United Against Poverty and want to learn more about how you can help their cause, visit their website: https://uporlando.org/get-involved/volunteer/ If you want to volunteer for the REACH in the near future, look out for the volunteer registration sheet for our next event, the 2019 Dragon Parade Lunar New Year Festival. |
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