APYLP Leadership Conference-->SACTOWN

20th ANNIVERSARY OF APYLP
MARCH 25-28,2010

You can't be only a API leader, you gotta be a leader period.

-Justice Tani Sakauye

Everyone is asking me how my Sacramento trip went. I always say "It was great!" and ended it just like that! haha. That's because I don't know where to start! I don't know how to summarize everything we did because we did SO MUCH! Well here you go, I have it in DETAIL. =)

I previously thought going to Sacramento was cool because I have never been there. Plus, it would be a good break for me from home. When I got there, everything turned out totally different then what I expected.

There were many Asian Americans and Filipino Americans that attended the conference. I didn't feel alone until I met a Samoan attendee named Deja Ofisa. =). I was happy to see another Tongan who was an adviser there. Shout out to ELLA WOLFGRAMM! We were the only Polynesians there to represent and I know we did a great job putting it down!

-->Deja Ofisa and I

The first day seemed the longest. All the attendees were separated into groups with their adviser.

My adviser was BEVERLY NG. My group was made up of 6 girls and we had our own name! Shout out to BEVERLY and my SiNGLE LADiES! haha.


-->Angela Dinh and Beverly Ng

After all the mingling, we had a speaker come and speak with us. We had Mona Pasquil, the Acting Lieutenant Governor of CA, tell us about her struggles in life and how she got to where she is today. She's the first Asian and first Filipino-American Lieutenant Governor of CA! More power to her because she's a woman! haha.

We had a workshop where we were divided into two rooms and we had to learn how to play a game by reading the directions in 5 minutes. Yes, stressful! The advisors didn't even want to help us! That's the point of being a leader though.

Leaders take risks.

Both rooms had a different game and at the end of our game, we had to discuss what we learned from playing. It was crazy because behind all the weirdness of each game, they symbolized how it is for us minorities, immigrants, and colored in the American society today. I learned our society today is about

survival of the fittest.

You have to learn how to adapt and keep up with the pace of the society you're living in.


-->us in front of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's room.

Friday.
We had more speakers like Hon. Evan Low (Mayor of the City of Campbell), Walter Wolfgramm, Hon. Mariko Yamada (Assembly member, 8th District) and Justice Tani Cantil Sakauye. Evan Low is 26 years old and he's already a mayor! He started out going to community college and went from their to Harvard. Walter Wolfgramm was my favorite because I connected to his stories about Tonga. He told a story about the octopus and mouse which is sort of a myth in Tonga. He brought some BOMB octopus(feke) cooked with breadfruit(mei). I quote Hon. Mariko Yamada because I see that we all go through this with the American values & our own cultured values.

"One challenge I face everyday is I try not to let the institution change me, but I change the institution."

We should make the difference! She says that her priorities of working with social issues are healthcare and education. Two thumbs up! Those are the two things all communities need to work with!



By this time, we were already in the State Capitol Building! Our advisers ran a Mock Legislature where they wanted to pass a bill as Lady Gaga, California's state rocker! haha. From what I observed, it was something like a trial where the judge ran the case and the lawyers and defendant fought for their claims. They did this because we, the attendees, were going to do the same thing on Saturday. We were expected to have partners to work with to try and pass a bill. I thought they were crazy because I had no experience with politics. We were scheduled to have our own Mock Legislature and we had the chance to vote for our own pro tempore and chair of the committee.



Saturday.
I ran for pro tempore and it was the scariest thing ever because it was something spontaneous. I had to stand up in front of the whole conference and make a speech of why I the Senators should vote for me. Note that I am SCARED of public speaking. I didn't win the election, but it was worth the try. =).

-->the advisers mock legislature

The bill I was trying to pass was SB7 Bilingual Education. My partner was Trina Douangphachanh. With work lunch and studying our papers in the bus, we pulled our case together and presented it in the committee. We had two lobbyists, one who was for our bill and one who fought against it. We were fighting for English classes for English learners to be at least 3 years. The senators on the board asked how do we expect to pay for these programs when we are in a recession and there are a lot of budget cuts. We replied that we would work with grants and scholarships and invest in all this, so when these English learners become efficient in the society, they can work and give back to the economy. I learned that studies show that when English learners do learn English, they actually perform academically better then native English speakers in their age group. With hard work and a smart mouth, Trina and I PASSED THE BILL in the committee with a 9-3 vote! We got the majority "aye" votes!


-->our committee group [the ppl I had to argue with to pass my bill. haha.]

Later, we had to take the bill to the Senate floor. We went on the ACTUAL SENATE FLOOR! I sat on a senators desk and everything! Our bill was the last one to be presented and with the same case, we officially had our bill passed! Okay, this was a mock legislature, it wasn't the real thing. I wish it really did pass as our law because I know how it is for English learners to come to America and not know how to speak English, judging from my experience with my people from Tonga.

We had a fun night to celebrate our hard work. We had a dance/dinner and a API Idol with karaoke singing!

Sunday.
We had our closing workshops. Ella Wolfgramm hosted our last workshop where we had to share our experiences there at the conference. She had a presentation of our Tongan values. I realized things I have never realized before, even in my own culture.

-->my friend PAWARISA FUNG

CONCLUSION.
This conference had me working!!! It was great though! I learned to step out of my comfort zone and I made a LOT of new friends! I communicated efficiently with other ethnicities and mastered my skills in public speaking! I came out of my shell! haha. I also developed leadership skills that I can bring home and use in my community work. All these inspirational guest speakers left me with something that I can think of as I go through college and LIFE. There is discrimination everywhere for minorities and colored, but it shouldn't stop us from moving forward.

Coming back from a long weekend...

September 21, 2009

Vanessa told me how the health presentation went at the Seventh Day Adventist church in LA. I was planning to go with my Ta'ahines o Moana, but there were a few technical difficulties.

I showed Vanessa my flow chart and she was surprised at how much arrows and colors I had on the paper. It was very complex and difficult to read. (haha) That's because I had a lot of things connected to how teenagers may behave. I narrowed it down though and explained how everything influenced one another.

The biggest influences in my conceptual framework was family and friends. That's the people that surround Tongan teenagers the most and has a big impact in their lives.

I also showed her the surveys I got from 'Ono and explained what I learned from it. I also asked her questions on what I may be able to do and what I can change on my part. It had me questioning a lot about what I can do.

After everything, I was able to update my blog...

Weekend reviewing...

September 20, 2009

I went to the PI Festival in Orange County the day before. Now it was Sunday and I had to go over some things on what I was doing.

I first went over the handouts 'Ono gave me at the festival. I looked over his survey and studied how he asked the questions and what he wanted to know from asking them. It was short! Only 30 questions and VERY straight forward. Can mines be this simple? (haha) It was good work though and very professional. There was a consent form that went with every survey. The consent form stated the purpose of the study, participants rights, procedures, risks, benefits, cost, and confidentiality of the survey. It is kind of like a contract.

What I found interesting was the handout on experiments that have been conducted before. I gained knowledge on why there is a IRB committee and what their purpose is.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment or Public Health Service syphilis study was a study conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama, by the U.S. Public Health Service. Investigators had 399 African-American sharecroppers with syphilis for research of justifying treatment programs for blacks. This 40 year study led to changes is U.S. law and regulation on the protection of participants because researchers failed to treat patients after the validation of penicillin which was an effective cure for the disease.

Seeing where I'm at...

September 18, 2009

Vanessa wanted to figure out where I was with my hours. I had A LOT to make up and on top of my work at TCSC, I had to work atleast 2.5 hours on the research at home. It was overwhelming but I figured that I can put in a lot of hours during the weekend so I wouldn't have to during weekdays.

I eventually got into my survey work. I categorized all my survey questions as well as the San Mateo survey questions. I had it in columns where questions fell under the topic it was related to. I had columns just for teen pregnancy, substance abuse, or mental health. This was useful so I can organize my questions and have one topic in one section. I also encountered questions that fell into more than 1 column. That meant that these questions were connected in some way.

After doing all that, I got on here! Finally updated my blog! =)

Continuing my own questions...

September 17, 2009

I continued working on my own survey questions. When I lost my train of thought, I went back to organizing the questions I would like from the San Mateo youth survey. (haha)

Diana later came into the office for a meeting. She broke it down saying that I would not be able to do any interacting with people because I'm still a minor. Age really does matter. (haha) There were a lot of complex issues to getting my work done, but the main point was that I wouldn't be able to complete my project on local youth health issues.

She still said she was able to come to the office and work with me on data entry on surveys she has conducted. I was a little disappointed because I am capable of doing things any other person in this internship can do, but the rules are the rules.

Diana still gave me the green light to keep doing what I was doing. So she introduced me into getting my conceptual framework started. She looked over my hypothesis and questions and I received her feedback on it, which helped me a lot. She gave me an idea of what she would put on a conceptual framework based on my research.

I went home and asked my cousin Fifita to help me with my conceptual framework. Two heads are better than one! I had her help me with what events or aspects in life would influence a Tongan teenager to smoking, drinking, and/or getting pregnant. We couldn't forget about mental health issues too. It was crazy! She had her own opinions and I had my different perspectives. We came to agree on a lot of things though because we backed up our claims with reasons.

FiNALLY! I completed my conceptual framework. It's sort of like a hypothesis. It's what I believe leads up to youth behaviors. That's why it's conceptual...

Hypothesizing and working forward...

September 16, 2009

Now I had to come up with my own survey questions. Diana and Vanessa wanted me to come up with questions I would like to ask about teen pregnancy, mental health, and substance abuse.

The catch of trying to come up with my own questions is that I have to put myself into the position of the participant.

I had to think about things like:

• How comfortable would they feel being asked this question?
• How would they interpret my question?

The list goes on, but those are the main points I focused on when I was bringing up questions.

Of course I had the San Mateo and Tonga survey to copyright questions from, but I was inputting my own questions to compare and contrast our surveys.

In the middle of doing this task, I got lost because I didn't know what I was trying to prove. What point was I trying to get to by asking these questions? That's why I came up with a hypothesis.

• I believe that the Tongan youth are influenced to drink and/or smoke by the people around them.
• I believe that the Tongan youth become pregnant because their parents do not really emphasize that issue with them. They are also somewhat influenced by the people around them.
• I believe that Tongan youth are mentally unhealthy because things that matter most to them in life are not going right. I also believe that they are not involved with much activities that can relieve their stress level.

Alright, bare with me. I came up with this off of my own knowledge. =). In many cases, I know it can be different. That's why I came up with a conceptual flow map. It's sort of like a flow chart where I point out the outcomes and connect it to everything that leads up to that. In this case, the outcomes are unhealthy behaviors. I connected everything that leads up to it.

Well my hypothesis helped me a lot with my questions. My hypothesis helped because I wanted to ask questions that might lead to my beliefs. If not, then my hypothesis was wrong.

I found mental health the hardest to ask questions on, but Vanessa helped me a lot with that. I mainly used San Mateo's youth survey as a guideline for my mental health questions.

I knew already that IRB wouldn't let me do anything with surveys because I'm still a minor. =(. But it didn't stop me from still trying to get somewhere with my survey. I still wanted to work on it and see what I can do. So far, so good.

Meeting with Diana...

September 28, 2009

I had the chance to meet with Diana again. We were supposed to meet up with the GCN interns, but they couldn't make it. =(

So Diana ended up going over some more research designs that might help my survey. She wants me to learn a lot of the basics to research. That's good because I can get into more of the complex things if I get into really putting in a research project. (hmmm?)

Diana told me a lot about a cohort design research method. This design takes up a lot of time and money. That's because you choose a group of people you would follow for a period of time. In between, conductors will have to take measurements on their group to see how they develop overtime. This design requires enough staff to keep track of participants and their whereabouts. That's out of my league (haha) because I don't have the staff, money, and time to do it.

There was more discussion on surveys Diana has conducted in the past and I learned more about the different outcomes you can get from participants. The thing that you mainly have to depend on in surveys are the answers people give you. For example, you're depending on your participant to tell the truth on the survey because if they lie, what's the point of getting that data? The Hawthorne Effect also falls into this category where participants tell you what you want to know because they know that they're being studied. That's BAD! (haha) That's why researchers come into trying to study HOW to best conduct a survey. I didn't even know the way you asked a questions really mattered, I thought it mattered as long as you asked and the participant understood the point.

Well that's what Diana basically went over with me today. I got a good outline of different researching designs and how to conduct the best one fit more my research. =)