Written by Alex Tao I started dragon boating around mid July, linking up with C.H.A.R.G.E and practicing with them almost every Saturday morning. Although it was grueling to wake up at 6 in the morning on the weekend, I still decided that I was going to make the commitment and try it out. Since I wasn't able to dragon boat last year due to my age issue, this year was my first year as a paddler at the festival. It was an amazing experience to compete in an actual race with my fellow REACH members. Although we didn't place, we were still able to make it into Division B, seeded at 24. It was impressive to see a team full of high schoolers take on teams that had professional dragon-boaters. At the final race I was approached by Anthony, one of the team captains, he told me that I was going to have to drum in the last race, something that I had never done before. Since a girl had not shown up and we had to keep the gender ratio balanced, the boat seating had to be moved around. I weighed light enough for them to choose me to be the drummer. I was really nervous in the beginning, but came to realize that being the drummer was actually quite fun. Overall, it was a good first time experience for me and I definitely plan on coming back next year! Written by Takkai Wong Dragon boat is a great, fun experience that I would recommend to anyone! I paddled in REACH's 2018 Dragon Boat team for the Dragon Boat Festival/Asian Expo. Honestly, I was honored to actually paddle with the team. Dragon boat, to me, is a great way of keeping touch with my Chinese cultural heritage. Even so, everyone participating in Dragon Boat were friendly and helpful. Dragon boat, as a whole, taught me many new values that I would keep to heart. It taught me commitment and perseverance. Honestly, at the beginning of paddling, I was not a very good paddler. I'm still not even that great at it. But the feeling of passing the finish line, the feeling of wanting to accomplish a goal, is something that no one ever wants to forget. What's a better feeling than crossing the finishing line with your team? Rather than stick to the bottom, I loved the feeling of the team sportsmanship I encountered in Dragon boat. The teamwork in Dragon boat intrigued me. There was a variety of different characteristics in the people paddling for Dragon boat, but somehow, a group of teenagers from different schools banding together and synchronizing, utilizing their own strengths were able to create the REACH team. If given the chance to take up the paddle again and again, I would do it as many times as I am able to.
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Written by Jerry He As this was my first time attending the Duanwu Dragon Boat Festival, many of the things we did were new to me. With the help of my fellow REACH and friendly CHARGE members, I was able to learn the basics of rowing. During the races, there was a friendly, competitive atmosphere and that made the races extremely fun and exciting. Additionally, I was able to learn quite a bit about the traditions of the dragon boat festival through the many trivias and games we played. Throughout the event, I met a lot of new faces and connected with many different people. Overall, the Duanwu Dragon Boat Festival was an amazing experience and I look forward to attending it in the years to come. Written by Tammy LeVan The Duanwu festival was a interesting and cool experience. It was a great opportunity to learn about parts of Chinese culture like Dragon Boat. At the festival, I learned how to paddle and ended participating in a fun race. I also got to try some delicious sticky rice and play a rock-paper-scissor game with water. Overall, it was a fun experience that allowed me to try new things and meet new people. I would definitely go to this again! Written by Rebekah Joe Although I have volunteered at many REACH events over the past few years, I recently attended the Duanwu Festival for the first time. Through the festival, I paddled for the first time, ate zhongzi, played games, met new people, and got to hear about the history and story behind the festival. I enjoyed being able to finally paddle and race after watching REACH paddle numerous times. The festival was a great experience for me as a new paddler to not only see how Dragon boat works, but also to see how I needed to improve to join the REACH Dragonboat team. Overall, the Duanwu Festival was a great experience, and I look forward to attending more!
Written by Jesson Medenilla Personally I was really excited for this event. Having to participate in the 1st annual REACH out as a high school coordinator for the organization was a blast in my opinion and having to take part of the 2nd REACH Out field day was truly an honor. This event helped me become more open towards other people, shaping me into a better person in a way, realizing that the world we live in isn’t always so gloomy. That we high school students (and even high school graduates) can always have fun and still meet new people that’s outside our respective realm. Personally, this event is a great gateway for new members to understand the “human” side of REACH, having to interact with past and present members in games is always a joy in my opinion.
The event’s main purpose is to have members interact with other members, getting to know each other through playing games and/or simply just interacting with one another. This event is a pretty good gateway for fresh, new members to come into the organization and meet the current officers of REACH. Personally, this is the closest thing you can have as a family reunion with having games, food and fun, and being part of REACH already feels like having a second family, helping one another no matter who you are, it’s literally Reaching out. Being part of this event and participate in it for 2 years always feels like an honor. I highly suggest new members to participate in it and to show the “human” side of REACH. This is a great way for relationships to build up with one another and a great way to improve one’s social skills and add up in those confidence points. Overall, 10/10 would do this event again, and will be excited for next year’s version of it. Written by Timothy Nguyen After wishing my dad a good day at work, I grabbed my tea and backpack, and got myself out of the car onto the overcast, humid, bustling parking lot of Fashion Square mall. I arrived at the festival at around 8:40 AM, about 20 minutes earlier than my set time of 9 AM, but regardless of my early arrival, I found myself getting a headstart on the work of the day. In one fell swoop I shotgunned my tea, threw my backpack to the vendor check-in desk, strapped on my fanny-pack, and began my long day ahead. After helping carrying the initial wave of vendors goods, tables, friers and other commodities, I finally remembered to go sign in, turning my 20 minutes early, into 10 minutes late. After I took the time to finally clock in, I rushed back to my job of Vendor check-in, my backpack still at the base of the table thankfully, sat down, pull out some lychee jellies I had packed the day before and took a quick shot of 1, whilst offering them to the team working at vendor-check in. Managing the check in and arrival of vendors is a vigorous job, as the vendors relentlessly arrive with legions of wagons, cars, vans, trucks, both of the moving and pick up variety, filled with their precious cargo of food, electronics, cosmetics, clothing, jewellery and other commodities they planned to sell or exhibit during this festival. Wave after Wave, Horde after Horde of vendors rushing in, pounding us with questions, forms and requests of volunteers. The vendor check-in team, consisting of Incharges Me and Alex De Guzman, along with the ardent and diligent volunteers: Rohan Savalani, Sandy Xia and Takkai Wong, with the aid of a man named Roy and 2 others that I unfortunately did not get the name of, stood our ground well against the hundreds of vendors coming at us. The waves of vendors came in ready to rock while we, were ready to roll, and hastily guided them to their spots and made last minute changes and arrangements, while still maintaining REACH’s trademark hospitality and surprising maturity that many have come to love and embrace. Even with spots of disputing and confused vendors, the check-in process was a vigorous task but successful nonetheless, with all the vendors being set-up and ready to go for phase 2 of the day: The Festival. Me and Alex sent the team off one by one to go on their breaks, as the arriving vendors grinded to a halt, eventually leaving me sitting at our table. I cleaned up our table, laden with pens, markers, boards, maps, forms and lists amongst other things, and before I got my lunch for the day I took one last round and ensured that all vendor’s needs were met, and unfortunately found a problem. The gigantic Orlando Korean Cultural Center booth, with their cooking stations, televisions, speakers and other electronics had blown out their plug! We quickly told them to move locations, first to the end of the hallway, and had fully set up their larger cooking section only for that socket to die out as well! We had told them to move 2 times more, the power going out over and over and over, again and again again! I must have carried jars of Kimchi and Korean Radish (Mu or 무) so many times that I must have gained the smell of the two mixed together. Eventually we settled on placing different sections of the cooking sections around the festival which eventually worked out for them. The disgruntled volunteers with OKCC eventually found themselves dealing with the same problem, or rather blessing everyone else has been, swarms of guests. After dealing with that headache, I finally was able to take my break and eat my lunch, graciously provided to us by Thai Island. Alex, Sandy and I ate together, eating delicious curry chicken and pad thai. We found ourselves in a grace period, a grace period where falling asleep seemed to be a very attractive option. But alas, we knew that falling asleep would be an unwise decision, and instead relaxed before being separated off into different jobs for the day. On February 11, 2017, the 6th Annual Dragon Parade Lunar New Year Festival occurred at Orlando Fashion Square Mall. As always, many volunteers showed up from multiple high schools and helped with leading REACH during the parade. REACH was able to help celebrate the Year of the Rooster and we look forward for the next parade! The event featured ethnic food, cultural performances and vendors.
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