Congratulations to each and everyone who participated in our annual CarmelFest July 4 parade! Working together, we pulled off an amazing show in the rain--what an unusual exciting experience!
Our success was due to our many enthusiastic volunteers representing many of our faithful partners, including Indianapolis Chinese Performing Arts (the Dancing Angels), Ling's Oriental Martial Arts, Okinawa Drummers, and Nationalities Council of Indiana. Our delegation featured active cultural dancers who received cheerful applause from spectators all along the parade route, representatives from Chinese, Filipino, Indian and Burmese communities dressed in beautiful ethnic costumes, and a beautiful young Indian-American parade queen sitting on the float truck greeting the crowds.
The rain did not stop our volunteers from showing up. In fact, our parade delegation walking the route in the rain numbered about 140 adults, children, and even a baby. Neither did the rain diminish the turnout of parade spectators, who patiently stood under umbrellas along the parade route. It was clear that bad weather could not dampen everyone's enthusiasm for a happy national celebration.
IACA truly appreciates the wonderful opportunity to partner with various distinguished cultural groups to celebrate the birthday of our great nation. Special thanks goes out to Kwan Hui of IACA and Tina Magnusson, Zhichao Ling, Marlon Alfonso and Hanako Gavia of our partner groups, who all devoted many hours of planning and coordination to make our parade participation a success.
The Asian American Alliance is bringing back an exciting event for students coming up in September! We encourage IACA members to send your youth for an inspiring and transformative experience at this year's Retreat for Asian Youth (RAY) event, designed to empower Asian high school students to unlock their full potential.
The RAY event is an impactful high school student leadership conference to encourage and uplift the future Asian American community in Indiana. It features a dynamic agenda, including leadership workshops, guest speakers, networking opportunities, panel discussions and interactive activities. Students will be able to engage in interactive sessions to hone their leadership skills, hear from prominent Asian American leaders who will share their stories and insights and connect with fellow students, mentors, and community leaders to build lasting relationships.
By attending, students will gain motivation and inspiration from successful Asian American leaders, develop essential skills for their academic and personal life, be part of a supportive community that celebrates and promotes Asian heritage and culture and discover their strengths to achieve their goals.
The Asian American Alliance Inc. is proud to invest in the development of future leaders that can help create positive change and a lasting impact on society. Register today!
Ball State University, in partnership with STARTALK, offered a tuition-free residential Chinese language summer program this year for high school students. For two weeks in July, students were immersed in a culturally rich and academically intensive environment, learning Mandarin as well as Chinese culture.
Kwan Hui supported this excellent program by introducing the students to Chinese lion dance. As always, his willingness on behalf of IACA to serve as a cultural ambassador greatly enriched the program.
Click here to watch a video summary of the program.
