The End of a Summer

Where do I start? This is my first year here, so I'm still like a freshman. I heard of this whole opportunity from my friend Gavin Huang, who was a part of the youth action team last year. I thought that it would be an interesting thing to do, and it was. Boy was I right.

Well, we have accomplished much over the summer. Some of us are exceptionally good at voter reg., some at mailbox painting, some at just pounding away on the keyboard. I'm sure we each found something that we excelled at, even if you don't realize it. We were each an integral part of the team, because we're the youth action team, and not just a group.

Mm I hope you've all had fun. I did. Even if we don't see the fruits of our labor, I'm sure John Liu appreciates it very much. But of course we can see it -- the STACKS of voter registrations.

But I think that we can all say that we have made a difference in our community. We have empowered the citizens with the right to vote and when the Asian constituents go out to vote in numbers, for John Liu and Ellen Young of course, their voice is heard. I am, and we should be proud of the fact that we took a part in this.

I don't know about you, but whenever I see a busted old mailbox that I would rate a 1, I would say to myself, "oo, this one needs painting." I am at least much more aware, and I have a newfound appreciation for all of those green and blue mailboxes.

How many of you are afraid of clowns? I haven't seen any of those scary clown movies, but I thought that the recycling clown was pretty cool. Let's see... I also got a little tan from being outside all day, and... we were third runner-up in the dragon boat festival!

I was also fortunate enough to be forced by Shiang to speak in the Democratic delegates meeting. It wasn't that bad, and I was on TV for uh, 3 seconds. But here I am, kinda being forced to speak again (just kidding, Liz).

I know that we don't have free Metrocards or free lunch or free Quickly's or those kind of perks. (We do have water coolers!) We aren't as lucky as those Peter Koo folks, but it's the people that matter, and the people that I've worked with are truly amazing individuals.

My summer would not have been complete with all of you guys, so thank you so much for a wonderful summer. Thank you everyone, and good luck in school and with all that you do.