AEP brings together UCLA, community
L.A. City Council awards group for tutoring service
By Nancy Hsu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The Asian Education Project, one of UCLA’s oldest and largest
community service organizations, has been recognized by the City of
Los Angeles for 26 years of public service.
"I go to different kinds of events in Chinatown," said
Councilman Mike Hernandez, whose district covers part of the Asian
community. "You go to Castelar Elementary (school) any Saturday
morning and you have 200 students being tutored by college students
… Most of those kids are going to college someday because of
those experiences in their life."
The Asian Education Project is a weekly program that tries to
provide children in Chinatown with the skills and guidance
necessary to get into college. Volunteers from UCLA, USC,
Occidental College and Cal State L.A. journey to Castelar
Elementary School every Saturday morning to serve as mentors and
friends.
Friday, five directors from UCLA, two from Cal State L.A., one
from Occidental College and one from USC were at City Hall to
accept a certificate for each school.
Before the ceremony, Hernandez said he wanted to recognize the
students after seeing them tutoring one Saturday. Upon finding out
more about the program, the councilman said he was moved by the
"the commitment by the students to be there," he said.
"We were on site, and he asked us about what we do as part of
the program," said Elaine Gee, a fifth-year psychobiology student.
"He told us he wanted to recognize us for what we do."
While the directors waited for the ceremony to begin, they
reflected on why they joined the program.
Kimberly Giep said she joined the project two years ago because
of her own personal experiences. The third-year psychology student
immigrated to the United States from Vietnam when she was five
years old.
"When I first came, I didn’t know the language," Giep said.
"When I moved here, I saw there was a need. Most of the kids (speak
English as a second language). They can’t get the one-to-one
attention they need, and they get passed onto the next grade
without learning anything."
Vu Phan, a second-year biochemistry student, said helping
children is the most rewarding aspect of the program. Phan said he
had so much fun with his student last year that he took him to
UCLA’s Mardi Gras celebration.
"I first joined as an Education in Action student," Phan said.
"I could get away from taking finals. I was only obligated to serve
for one quarter, but I became attached to my tutee. His name is Phu
Nguyen, he’s in the fourth grade. He likes sports a lot so I bring
in sports cards and Sports Illustrated to read. We work on his
grammar and phonics, but I can’t tutor him right now since I’m a
director."
The program now has close to 200 volunteers and about 250
students. Each volunteer serves as a role model and friend. Most
members work with mainly Southeast Asian children on overcoming
linguistic, cultural and socioeconomic barriers.