EthanisEPIC

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Mission Statement Development...

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:16:00 -0400

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Mission Statement Development continued)

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Mission Statement Development)

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:05:40 -0400

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Mission Statement Development)

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Personal Scholar Time Lines...

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:53:00 -0400

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Personal Scholar Time Lines continued)

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Personal Scholar Time Lines)

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:47:00 -0400

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Personal Scholar Time Lines)

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Dinner Time ending). Leftovers...

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:38:00 -0400

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Dinner Time ending). Leftovers featured.

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Dinner Time continued)

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:31:00 -0400

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Dinner Time continued)

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Dinner Time after arrival)

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:22:00 -0400

EPIC Scholars Round Table Day 1 (Dinner Time after arrival)

Leadership in Action graduation ceremony. Thanks to all of LEAP...

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:16:05 -0400

Leadership in Action graduation ceremony. Thanks to all of LEAP staff/board and my fellow interns for making this one of my best experiences ever!

Last EPIC Board Meeting before the Round Table.

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:13:00 -0400

Last EPIC Board Meeting before the Round Table.

Closing Up the Blog

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:59:23 -0400

I was supposed to close this blog up weeks ago since my time with LEAP is officially over. What I have learned from being in Leadership In Action is that communication is key to organizing things. But to truly create something that pleases everyone means that you have to communicate with people more often face to face rather than through any other medium in order to not only understand their opinions but to gain their trust easier.

I’m not fully done posting yet since I want to include everything after since I’m continuing with my CBO.

Pictures of my second week. Lobbying in Sacramento while lobby...

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 05:38:04 -0400

Just arrived in capital structure.

Capital building

Assemblyman Mike Eng's office

Reception for 1088 supporters.

Inside Eng's office.

Anh,VictorPeng,Mike, Me,Calvin&Vanessa

It's raining around noon.

Blue capital

Leaving Sac

Pictures of my second week. Lobbying in Sacramento while lobby for AB1088.

July 25 - July 29

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:16:14 -0400

For the week of July 25^th I was able to meet with CSUF Assistant Dean Andi Sims, the adviser to the South Pacific Islander Cultural Association and SPICA board members Kiele and Kalena. From that meeting I was able to secure the venue for the Roundtable and get feedback on some of the agenda items planned. The week also came with the good news that representatives from 8 different colleges/university PI orgs were gonna be attend the Roundtable. Everything is coming together.

Visuals from EPIC board retreat.

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:14:46 -0400

Outrigger Canoe

Chamorro Empanada

Chamorro Red Rice Spam Musubi

Chamorro Lumpia

Visuals from EPIC board retreat.

July 18 - July 24

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:06:41 -0400

For the week of July 18 there was a lot of LEAP since we had to set up for the 30^th anniversary dinner. But the weekend was hella fun. For Saturday headed down to San Diego for the EPIC board. Retreat. This was great since I got to hang out with 8 of the board members, Tana, Sefa, Kehaulani, Alisi, Vanessa, Joe, Calvin, and Keith and I got the opportunity to go paddling in an outrigger, which an indigenous Pacific Islander boat. We got hooked up to go paddling on these boats for free through Tana is also the Pacific Islander Festival Association. The ironic thing is that most of our instructors for the activity were Palongi. We got pushed our outriggers to the coast of the bay and split up into 3 boat groups. It was exhilerating padding across the bay and racing each other. We must have gone a couple of miles one way before turning the boats around to head back. I almost sank when we turned the boats around because of my jeans but I didn’t care. Afterwards we got to try some Chamorro food at this restaurant called Chamorro Grill. We got hooked up with some Lumpia, Chicken Adobo, Lucheon, and Spam Musubi courtesy of Keith’s connections. Then afterwards, back to a long day of hashing out EPIC projects and ending the night playing board games with the board. Plus 14 hours of sleep.

July 11 - July 15

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:05:04 -0400

For the week of July11th I continued to outreaching for Pacific Islander College Leaders to attend the 2^nd annual EPIC Scholars Roundtable. The Roundtable itself is a conference of Pacific Islander Student leaders or Pacific Islander students who want to become leaders. The roundtable will educate PI students professional skills and how to advocate for Pacific Islander Issues so they can be better at running their PI student orgs and create a political voice for Pacific Islanders on their respective campuses.

So for the week of July 4th after getting back from a much...

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:04:05 -0400

So for the week of July 4^th after getting back from a much needed 3 day weekend. I got to have dinner with the board members Sefa, Tasha, Alisi, and Kehaulani in Westwood. It was amazing because I got to learn about how Sefa and Tasha started the outreach project Pacific Islander Education and Retention in the 90s. The project aims to provide mentorship, tutoring, and other resources necessary to empower Pacific Islander youth to go into higher education.

July 26 - July 30

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:01:53 -0400

This week was eventful. On Monday June 26^th I went to the Tongan Community Services Center to volunteer for their anti-tobacco campaign and pick up cigarette butts at 8 parks. The Tongan Center is where two EPIC board members Calvin and Vanessa work so this was my chance to get to know them. It hits 6pm and I head home. 6 hours later Calvin picks me up in his car with Vanessa and we drive up to Sacramento to lobby for this bill introduced by Mike Eng called AB1088 which is ground breaking because it will dis-aggregate data collection in California and create 8 new Asian American ethnic categories and 2 Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Categories. We get there minutes before the Senate Appropriations Committee has to convene and prep to speak on the chamber floor. It was actually a whiles wait since there were other bills that need to be voted on. When the time came for our bill came up vote their were a hand full of Asian American and Pacific Islander groups that came up to support the bill. After going up to speak as well we were all invited to a private luncheon at Mike Eng’s office to thank us for supporting his bill. After lunch we drove back to LA and I knocked out after being dropped off at around 7pm. The next day was eventful too since I went to the EPIC board meeting and got to meet other board members and joke around with them. This was one eventful week.

Me at the Community Programs Office. Its an old picture but you...

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:03:18 -0400

Me at the Community Programs Office. Its an old picture but you get the idea.

First day at my CBO EPIC

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:00:17 -0400

My first day with EPIC was very informative. Natasha Saelua, the Associate Director to the Community Programs Office where I have worked and called home for these last three years, is my CBO supervisor. She went over the history of EPIC and how it emerged out of a program by the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA) called Pacific Islander Health Careers Pipeline Program (PIHCPP). The Pipeline Program was created to increase the number of Pacific Islander health care providers and health related professionals, as well as prepare them to address the health disparities experienced by the community. After funding for the Pipeline program ran out those who were involved with it wanted to continue the work and address even more pan community issues so EPIC was formed on September 25, 2009. EPIC not only focus on Health, Education and Civic Engagement but works as an advocacy group working on a State and National level with policy.

http://uclacommunityprograms.org/StudentInitiatedAccessCenter.php

http://www.ocapica.org/

First three days with LEAP

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:53:00 -0400

At first I did not know what to expect coming into this LEAP internship except the fact that it was going to change me and I was gonna do everything in my power to make it rockin. These three days with the other LEAP interns E-man, Kat, Missy, Sasha, Maria, Kelly, and Chelsey along with our LEAP supervisors Lawrence and Linda have been phenomenal. It was also great to learn from LEAP’s President and CEO J.D. Hokoyama on the first day.

What I’ve taken from these first three days is that it takes community building with your own team before your team can change the community!