The APIA Scholars Elevating Leaders Summit (ELS) is the largest program in our suite of holistic college to career programs in which we celebrateand welcome our newest Scholar cohorts to the APIA Scholars community.
Over the course of 3 days, 150 - 200 first year, second year, and transfer students will participate in a virtual conference experience where they will engage in workshops on how to cultivate authentic leadership skills, the power of storytelling and APIA representation, and the importance of centering mental health and wellness during college.
APIA students will also have the opportunity to build community with their fellow Scholars by participating in small group discussions led by an alumni facilitator. After attending the Elevating Leaders Summit, students will have the knowledge, resources, and networks necessary to thrive as leaders on campus.
Manjusha P. Kulkarni
AAPI Equity Alliance
Shyam R. Gadwal
APIA Scholars
Gaonoucci Belle Vang
California State University, Fresno
In this session, participants will understand the importance of intersectionalism when searching for a mentor, as well as having self-awareness as a mentee. Through interactive activities, participants will tackle questions such as “What are the most important characteristics of yourself and how does that connect to what you want in a mentor?”. They will also get a chance to practice outreach to potential mentors with email templates and to discuss intersectionalism with their peers.
Varaxy Yi Borromeo
California State University, Fresno
Jacqueline Mac
Northern Illinois University
How do we make a home in spaces not built for us? We are Southeast Asian American (SEAA) women in higher education and members of the SEAAster Scholars Collective and we commit to advancing scholarship about, with, for, and by SEAA communities. As individuals who come from refugee, first-generation, and/or low-income backgrounds, we created the Collective to be our home within academia. In this session, Scholars will learn a bit of our story on how this Collective came to be, dream about what a space needs to look and feel like to be most aligned with their experiences, and share these experiences and reflections to build collectives across their networks. We invite all Scholars to attend this workshop to build community with and for each other.
Tina Ly
Anam Khalid
Andre Pak
Joey Uy
Noor Ali
Melissa Atienza
Melvin Nguyen
Sami Birmingham-Babauta
Tammalivis Salanoa
Yoo Ra Sung
Alana Wilson
Amandip Chauhan
Nalei Stewart
E Ala E Hawaiian Cultural Center
Kylie Stamm
APIA Scholars
Chingcha Vang
Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP)
Do you ever wonder why you are the way you are and why you do what you do? Is it your style or your personality? Have you ever considered how the influences of early messaging from your Asian and Pacific Islander American upbringing and how it may shape your style, behavior, and perspectives? In this session, we'll discuss and explore the relationship between values, behaviors, and perceptions along with the core values that most strongly influence you. The impact of leadership enhancing and leadership limiting behaviors will be explored and techniques for managing perceptions and leveraging your Asian & Pacific Islander cultural values will be discussed.
Lindsay Ah Loo
Nakupuna Foundation
Kapua Ioane
2020 Nakupuna Scholar
Nalei Stewart
E Ala E Hawaiian Cultural Center
Calling all Nakupuna Scholars past and present! Join us for a welcome ceremony for the incoming 2022-2023 APIA Nakupuna Scholars Cohort. This is a chance for scholars to meet fellow cohort members and learn more about the resources and support available to each of you. We will have local community members, speakers from the Nakupuna Foundation, and Nakupuna Scholars alumni engage with scholars. We are excited to talk story and build community with one another. This session is for Nakupuna Scholars and alumni.
Jessica Lin
Jess Beyond the Body
Do you struggle with body image issues? This workshop will feature guided meditation, breathwork, and journaling to improve our relationships with our bodies. Participants will learn ways to rewrite negative self-talk and build more constructive methods of self-improvement. Led by a queer and disabled Asian American woman, this workshop will respectfully consider influential factors like queerness, disability, and Eurocentric standards of beauty.
Tammalivis Salanoa
University of Alaska, Anchorage, TRIO Student Support Services
Eva Ulukivaiola
University of Alaska, Anchorage, TRIO Student Support Services
In this workshop, scholars will learn how to navigate higher education using mentorship, motivation, and how to overcome barriers. Mentors can provide specific insights and information that enable the mentee's success. Students who are more motivated to learn persist longer, produce higher quality effort, learn more deeply, and perform better in classes and on standardized tests. We will share, discuss, and practice a number of strategies for empowering student leaders to create safe communities, as well as present a model for student leadership development that gives them the skills, support, and practice to take on obstacles they may face in higher education.
Kenrick Ross
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)
In this session, attendees will meet a panel of LGBTQ+ API leaders from diverse sectors speaking about their college and career journeys, how they serve and lead in all communities they call home, the challenges and opportunities of holding multiple identities that are not hegemonic anywhere, and how they incorporate wellness practices into their work.
Amandip Chauhan
Anam Khalid
Andre Pak
Joey Uy
Noor Ali
Melissa Atienza
Melvin Nguyen
Sami Birmingham-Babauta
Tammalivis Salanoa
Tina Ly
Yoo Ra Sung
Alana Wilson
Christina Lambert
APIA Scholars
Noel Harmon, PhD
APIA Scholars
Kent Tong
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates
Everyone has a place in serving the community. It does not require a specific study or set of skills to be an activist. Students will learn about artists of different mediums who use their chosen mediums to draw attention to social and political issues while calling for change.
Taelani Camacho
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)
Jimina Afualo
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities have faced numerous impacts - from disproportionately being impacted by COVID-19 to job loss for providers of multigenerational homes. The pandemic has exacerbated and revealed health inequities for NHPI communities. Now more than ever NHPI communities are prioritizing Mental Health and Wellness. Join us for an opportunity to engage with Empowering Pacific Islander Communities’ (EPIC) Advocacy Coordinator and Program Coordinator as they share their journey of Mental Health and Wellness as it is woven into their roles. In addition, participants are encouraged to be a part of a cultural workshop that weaves wellness into the leaders we seek to become.
Sarah Fischer
Schwarzman Scholars
William Wang
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
Jessica Yan
Redstone Strategy Group
Kevan Shah
End Overdose Together
Embracing, discovering, and putting pen to paper – an exploration of leadership narratives from a reviewer and applicant perspective. This workshop will delve into how scholars can begin to tell their stories in sometimes confining parameters of graduate school or job applications. Attendees will hear from three Schwarzman Scholars about how they honed their story to articulate their leadership narrative, and what it took to follow through on their vision. Attendees can expect an engaging session with activities they can do to begin to brainstorm their own leadership narrative and think about their next steps.
Dr. Curtiss Takada Rooks
Loyola Marymount Unviersity
Dr. Rika Houston
California State University, Los Angeles
What are you? Wow, but you look… Or, really you don’t look… No, where are you really from? How many times have we heard those questions and phrases? This workshop in reclaiming our definitions of self seeks to recognize and build upon the “inherent” strengths and opportunities of ambiguity and mixedness. By tapping into the lived experience of our “mixedness” we seek to identify transferable traits and skills needed to build a firm foundation for leadership.
Alvinnie Kwok
Elastic
Develop deeper connection and understanding within your personal and professional relationships, through authentic self-expression and compassion. Students will learn the 4 components of Nonviolent Communication (a tool developed by Marshall Rosenberg) and be able to apply it to a real-life scenario specific to them.
Amandip Chauhan
Anam Khalid
Andre Pak
Joey Uy
Noor Ali
Melissa Atienza
Melvin Nguyen
Sami Birmingham-Babauta
Tammalivis Salanoa
Tina Ly
Yoo Ra Sung
Alana Wilson
Shyam R. Gadwal
APIA Scholars
Christina Lambert
APIA Scholars
Cindy Luo
APIA Scholars
Justine Suegay
APIA Scholars