CodyYangHawkenProjects2021

Throughout my entire Hawken Project process, my goal has been to get involved in civic engagement. Preferably, that would be something that's happening now or something that's close to me. I created this project because it fits right along with those two objectives. Originally, I was simply planning on working a lot of service throughout my project. However, this project exceeded my wildest expectations. My mentor set up meetings with Asian leaders all across the State, and they were really very enlightening in terms of educating me about Asian American interests and issues. My mentor was amazing and responsive. Ms. Elaine Tso really helped me set up all of my interests, including working with both COVID vaccine clinics and different parts of ASIA. I think I learned and accomplished all of my essential questions. I learned a lot about Asian issues, and I worked in civics engagement and present issues. I think my project was pretty amazing, and there wasn't that much I could...

The last time I wrote about vaccine clinics on this blog, I focused very generally on the concepts and logistics of how the clinic worked. However, I have realized that doing so does a disservice to my true experience. For this blog post, I wanted to highlight the more personal aspects of the vaccine clinics that I encountered. The term "service" as a whole is very broad. When people say they are doing "service," it means they've done some sort of help in the community. However, I think a crucial mistake people make is lumping the people they serve into one monolith, people who need help. Throughout my time staffing the vaccine clinic, I've met volunteers, I've met young kids walking in with their parents, elderly in a walking stick, disabled people, and countless others who don't fit those specifications. I think the most amazing part of this project is what it's done for me in terms of broadening how I look at the world. Throughout the service ...

The Hawken Project is an unrivaled opportunity for students to take their own initiative and, with Hawken's support, craft an amazing experience for themselves. For me, I've had many eye-opening experiences with my Hawken Project and been able to do things that I wouldn't have even thought of when I first conceptualized my Hawken Project. In my eyes, there are a few ways to ensure the maximum from your Hawken Project experience. I'll list them below. First and most importantly, clear contact and communication with your mentor BEFORE your project are extremely important. I think one of the reasons for my success in my Hawken Project was the fact that I had a clear and candid conversation with my mentor before we had even locked in the details of the project. I believe, from that conversation, my mentor was able to get a deeper understanding of me, and what I wanted to do. I think this allowed my Hawken Project to be efficient, and I believe this helped my mentor help me ...

 On Wednesday, I was able to meet with various Asian Leaders all across Ohio. They ranged from Cleveland to Colombus to Youngstown. It was a very interesting experience for me, and I was able to ask these leaders about their organizations and what they did. My mentor, Elaine Tso, kindly arranged all of the meetings in order to help me better understand Asian American organizations across Ohio. I met with 3 different leaders of groups. First, I met with Lisa Wong, head of OCA in Cleveland. Then, I met the leader of the APIAHF coalition, Ms. Sankarappa. Finally, I met with Vincent Wang of APAPA, which is the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs organization. I'll condense what I learned about these three organizations into 3 separate paragraphs below.  The OCA is a volunteer association that is concentrated in the Greater Cleveland Area. They are headed by Lisa Wong, and their primary goal is mainly to assist businesses and Asian Americans struggling to transition to t...

ASIA is clearly an enormously impactful organization that has impacted hundreds if not thousands of lives massively. However, it is clear that ASIA can also work with Hawken too. I think Hawken and ASIA can form a unique partnership in many different areas.  First, I think ASIA can work with Hawken on setting up different education initiatives on Anti-Asian racism in the United States. While the current group of Asian Nation does an admirable job of trying to educate the Hawken community, these workshops might need a more experienced hand such as ASIA might provide. Due to ASIA's long experience working against and educating against anti-Asian racism, I think they could be extremely useful in education. Another part of ASIA is their leadership camps, along with other organizations. ASIA hosts leadership camps, along with OCA, in order to help educate and inform Asian American youths in becoming leaders across a variety of different fields, from business to politics, to even basic c...