2022 APAPA TVC Internship Graduation Program.pdf

2022 APAPA TVC Internship Graduation Ceremony

Saturday, September 10, 2022 3-5 PM Amador Rancho Center, San Ramon

2022 APAPA TVC

Internship Graduation Ceremony

Introduction and Welcome Susanna Wong Ordway, Vice President of APAPA TVC & TVC Internship Committee Chair Opening Remarks Margaret Liang, APAPA TVC Board Chair Keynote Speaker Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan Intern Sharing · Summarize Summer Internship Project · Introduce their office Graduation Ceremony Margaret Liang, APAPA TVC Board Chair 02

APAPA Tri Valley Chapter 2022 Summer Interns Host Office: Susanna Ordway - San Ramon Valley USD Board Trustee

Abigail Choi

Abigail Choi is a Junior at Monte Vista High School in Danville. Through APAPA, she interned with Trustee Susanna Ordway at the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD) and conducted informational interviews with the other Board members, the Superintendent, and SRVUSD’s partnering organizations to learn more about school administration processes. Under Dr. Debbie Petish, the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction at SRVUSD, she researched Open Educational Resources, piloting materials, and diversifying literature. She also had the opportunity to be on the SRVUSD’s Student Panel at the Administrator Retreat, in which she shared about her school experience and her school’s climate. Through her internship, Abigail was able to develop project management skills, deepen her understanding of government processes, and register her fellow students to vote.

Host Office: Sridhar Verose - Vice Mayor, City of San Ramon

Sabina Dhindsa

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Sabina is a senior at Monte Vista High School in Danville. Her goal is to gain more knowledge about Asian American affairs in public office, and specifically to gain skills on how to get involved in legislation and to rebuild social structures to include more young adults. This year, in her ethnic studies class at school, her studies has focused on AAPI communities and their role in the systems of government.

She and a friend have created a website where they promote and recommend books for elementary students that encourages more diversity in stories. In her internship with Vice Mayor Sridhar Verose, she learned more about her local community by analyzing the budgets of the City of San Ramon and how it affects the services offered to its residents. She also worked on research for the City’s housing needs and how to plan for this important service.

APAPA Tri Valley Chapter 2022 Summer Interns Host Office: Phong La - Alameda County Assessor

Kacie Hu

Kacie Hu is currently a junior at Amador Valley High School and she enjoys going outside, exploring new forms of art, and participating in community service opportunities. She believes there is great value in giving back to the community and has been a recipient of the Gold Level President's Volunteer Service Award each year. She is active in nonprofit organizations, her robotics team, and at school in various leadership positions. This summer, Kacie applied for the APAPA Internship with the goal of learning more civic engagement and the impact on society. She interned at the Alameda County Assessor's Office and worked on a variety of projects such as a Wikipedia page, social media posts, and event certificates. Through this internship, Kacie developed many invaluable life skills like researching, pitching, and effective communication.

Hosts: Michelle Chen & Jonah Wang - APAPA TVC Intern Alumni

Sharon Jiang

Sharon is a junior attending Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton. She is currently volunteering at NAMI CC, a Chinese department of the NAMI organization. NAMI CC aims to help Chinese families who are facing mental health issues but may be reluctant to seek help so Sharon is passionate about educating and helping to reverse this cultural challenge. For her internship with APAPA TVC, Sharon researched the issue of API hate in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She studied the issue before the pandemic as well as post-pandemic and is analyzing how historical beliefs and structural systems have added to the problem.

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APAPA Tri Valley Chapter 2022 Summer Interns Host Office: Melissa Hernandez - Mayor, City of Dublin

Ronald Kan

Ronald Kan is a senior at Monte Vista High School in Danville.

His experience in the school’s Speech and Debate program kickstarted his journey into government policy, inspiring him to take a more involved role in local government. This summer, he interned with the office of Mayor Melissa Hernandez. Under her guidance, he was able to take a deep dive into the CCTA’s Innovate 680 infrastructure program, where he learned the intricacies of public infrastructure projects. Additionally, he learned how to best utilize social media for politics, and helped at campaign events.

Host Office: David Haubert - Alameda County Supervisor

Austin Lo

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Austin Lo is a senior at Taipei American School and loves connecting with new people! He moved to Taiwan during his sophomore year of high school, but has been a resident of Alameda County for nearly a decade. Through APAPA, he interned for Alameda County District 1 Supervisor, David Haubert. During his internship, he focused on two projects: reestablishing a sister county relationship between Alameda County and the Taoyuan County of Taiwan and researching a more cost-efficient and reliable emergency alert system for the Kilkare Woods Community in Sunol. He appreciates that the APAPA Internship program gave him the opportunity to experience the facets of the state and federal government, and to view leadership from a civic standpoint. Other than serving his communities, Austin indulges in playing the violin/viola and enjoys producing music.

APAPA Tri Valley Chapter 2022 Summer Interns Hosts: Michelle Chen & Jonah Wang - APAPA TVC Intern Alumni

Matthew Morimoto

Matthew Morimoto is a senior at The Quarry Lane School in Dublin. This year at APAPA, he was provided with an opportunity to work on an independent project and he chose to research on the stigma around mental health and how our communities can destigmatize it by showing community support. He interviewed the Board of Supervisors for Contra Costa County District 2, Candace Andersen, on mental health based on her proposals and what the County is currently offering its residents. They discussed the importance of destigmatizing mental health which influenced his project. Matthew wrote an article on Ways of Reducing Mental Health Crisis and included many resources such as various crisis lines and support programs.

Host Office: David Haubert - Alameda County Supervisor

Braden Ou

Braden Ou is a rising junior at the Quarry Lane School.

This year, he interned for David Haubert, the Supervisor for Alameda County District 1. Through his internship, he reached out to businesses to help surge economic growth for the county. He also took on numerous other projects, such as writing an uncommon light pollution ordinance, notating impactful meetings for actionable information, and registering voters through APAPA’s national voter registration project.

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APAPA Tri Valley Chapter 2022 Summer Interns Host Office: Rebecca Bauer-Kahan - CA Assemblywoman, District 16

Suraj Pangal

Suraj is currently a senior at Monte Vista High School. He had always been interested in criminal justice, law, and policy making. This summer, Suraj worked in the district office of State Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (AD16). Here, he proposed legislation to the state legislature that would create a five year washout period for the Three Strikes Law. Additionally, Suraj assisted with constituent casework, communication, and wrote policy memos on various pieces of legislation. Furthermore, Suraj conducted research for casework and legislative purposes and had the opportunity to staff the district office and assist with district events.

Host Office: Contra Costa County DA's Office

Aryan Raikar

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Aryan Raikar is currently a Senior at Amador Valley High School and has been involved with an internship with the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office. Most notably, he was in constant communication and involvement with the Martinez Misdemeanor and Felony team. Prior to this internship, Aryan has written articles for Snap Civics to increase civic engagement in youth as well as participate in Youth and Government conferences to learn more about governmental processes. Aryan enjoys court cases and the duality of justice and morality within our justice system, so this assignment was perfect for him to finally get an experience in the real world. During this internship, he reviewed jail calls for evidence, wrote transcripts for cases, reviewed DUI cases to gather if they should be taken up by the DA office, and even had the incredible experience of watching court cases in the flesh. He aided in a case with the felony team and worked through evidence that could possibly prosecute the defendant. The difference between creating mock legislature in Youth and Government and learning about court procedures in the real justice system is like night and day. Through this experience, he has grown exponentially in terms of understanding the procedures of the justice system as well as learning to communicate effectively with co-workers.

APAPA Tri Valley Chapter 2022 Summer Interns Host Office: Kristi Wang - Livermore Joint USD Board Trustee

Eva Raul

Eva Raul is a senior at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton. She became interested in law and politics during the 2020 election and joined a student movement to better regulate SRO’s (student resource officers) at Amador. She attended a program surrounding Law & Advocacy at Yale University to further her interests in the field, especially race and ethnicity issues. This year, she’s a part of the We The People (Competition Civics) team at Amador and will be competing at regional, state, and national competitions surrounding the constitution and American history. This summer, she interned with Livermore School Board Trustee Kristie Wang. Her main project was working on hosting a mental health webinar for API high schoolers in the Bay Area, consisting of discussion among participants and guest speakers to give presentations. The topics covered in the webinar included parental pressure & burnout, microaggressions against APIs, the mental health stigma in API communities, and LGBTQ+ API issues.

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APAPA Tri Valley Chapter 2022 Summer Interns Host Office: Sridhar Verose - Vice Mayor, City of San Ramon

Aditi Swaminathan

Aditi Swaminathan is a junior attending Quarry Lane School.

She enjoys cooking, playing with her dog, listening to music, and singing. Aditi is currently a member of a variety of clubs and activities at school, and is part of a competitive choir.

She is passionate about the environment and looked to APAPA to be able to understand the effects policy can have on important issues. This summer, she was given the opportunity to have exposure to and learn about the inner workings and progress on various projects in San Ramon.

Analysis and reading of the general plan allowed her to understand various factors influencing development of our city. She and her fellow interns were able to construct and administer surveys as well as do analysis of what the responses meant. Furthermore, Aditi researched on the issue of the low numbers of minority women in politics, as well as brainstormed ways that we can increase those numbers. Through these activities, she was able to practice and develop a variety of critical skills that she will be taking forward in school and in her life.

Host Office: Phong La - Alameda County Assessor

Siya Verma

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Siya is a junior at The Quarry Lane School. This summer, she worked at the Alameda County Assessor's Office where she took on several small projects such as attending ceremonies and events where she and other members represented the office, revised newsletters, and sat in on meetings with lobbyists and policy makers debating bills!

However, the largest highlight was the start of the Assessor’s podcast. She will be covering the impact of tax assessments on a range of properties and businesses, from churches to marijuana farms, while also connecting with small businesses. With APAPA, she attended both chapter and national training sessions on legislative processes, resume building, professional and leadership development, among others. She also initiated a fundraiser for the organization through the sale of Krispy Kreme doughnuts which generated more than $300 in one afternoon.

APAPA Tri Valley Chapter 2022 Summer Interns Host Office: David Haubert - Alameda County Supervisor

Hannah Yu

Hannah is a senior at the Quarry Lane School. She is passionate about animal rescue and environmental justice. This summer, she had the opportunity to intern at Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert’s office. For the office, she conducted a research project on cost-effective evacuation notification systems that could be implemented in rural parts of the county that do not have cellular service. She is also continuing her independent project to implement environmental studies as part of the elementary and middle school core curriculum in Pleasanton Unified School District. In the future, she wants to pursue human sciences and environmental studies. In her freetime, Hannah enjoys spending time with her dog, painting, and handwriting letters to her friends.

Host Office: Catharine Baker - Fair Political Practices Commissioner (FPPC)

Anne Zhou

Anne Zhou is currently a senior at The King's Academy! She is interested in public service because she has always deem solving ongoing/long-term issues as her number-one goal! She plans to become a data scientist/analyst in healthcare, politics, technology, or education and hope to use the skills that she has learned from her previous internships for the human good. In addition, Anne is currently serving as one of the PR directors for BRI (Bridge Road International), which aims to serve Asian communities by offering free core and fun classes to children ages 5 - 16. She was also a social media intern for Greg Tanaka's campaign for nine months. She typically researches a specific topic related to the Asian-American community and design digital posters and videos. During her FPPC experience, She has worked on a research project with Ms. Linker and Ms. West called "Big Money Talks." She used Python to extract, sort and analyze campaign donation data for the final draft of the "Big Money Talks" document that will be published soon. She has really found herself learning so much from her internship about the complexity of analyzing data and fair voting policies!

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Keynote Speaker Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan was elected in 2018 to serve the 16th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Dublin, Lafayette, Livermore, Orinda, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Danville, Alamo and Moraga. Rebecca is an accomplished attorney, environmental advocate, community volunteer, law professor and mother. Rebecca is the granddaughter of refugees, who came to the United States to escape the Holocaust. Their experience has shaped Rebecca’s perspective, inspiring her to help others in her own community. She is a product of Bay Area public schools and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University Law Center. Rebecca and her husband, Darren, live in Orinda with their three young children.

Thank you all 2022 intern hosting offices Office of Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan Office of David Haubert, Alameda County Supervisor Office of Sridhar Verose, Vice Mayor of San Ramon Office of Susanna Wong Ordway, SRVUSD Board Trustee San Ramon Valley Unified School District Office of Kristie Wang, Livermore Joint USD Board Trustee Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office Office of Melissa Hernandez, Mayor of Dublin Office of Phong La, Alameda County Tax Assessor Office of Catharine Baker, Fair Political Practice Comissioner APAPA TVC Internship Committee

APAPA TVC Board of Directors

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Margaret Liang, Board Chair

Shawn Kumagai, Member

Jamie Yee, Board Vice-Chair

Sridhar Verose, Member

Nolan Chen, President

Kristie Wang, Member

Susanna Wong Ordway,

Sabina Zafar, Member

Vice-President

Marsha Golangco, APAPA

Tiffany Yang, Secretary

Bay Area Region Liaison

Lily Zhu, Treasurer

Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association Community Education Foundation

Our Mission To empower Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Americans through education, leadership, and active participation in civic and public affairs. www.apapa.org Non-profit 501(c)(3) Tax ID #55-0849384 Program & Flyer Designer: Clytie Huey

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