Student Projects – Page 3

Scrapbook to Encourage Doctors during COVID-19

Tram and Truc’s community project idea was to make a scrapbook filled with positive and encouraging words to give out to healthcare providers at their local hospitals. Through this humble contribution, they want to encourage the doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic and express their appreciation for their work.

Timeline: August 2020 – October 2020
Key Members: Tran Le and Phuong Bui, 7th grader at Le Loi Secondary School
Goal: Spread positiveness and express appreciation to healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
How: Making a scrapbook with photos of health care providers around the world and delivering it to a local doctor
Result-To-Date: “Dr. Dung was so happy to receive the scrapbook. He gave us two big bags of candies when we visited him. We had an interesting conversation with him, which helped us understand more about his job.”

Read for Needs

Student Deanna Morgan takes a stab at organizing an online tutoring program, which aims to support the Spanish-speaking community.

Please see below for her letter and project scope:

“My name is Deanna Morgan. I’m 16 years old, and I am a girl scout with the Nation’s Capital, troop 5153. Additionally, I am a new student at AASuccess. When I was little, I attended Rose Hill and became fluent in Spanish due to the Immersion program there. However, throughout my years at Rose Hill, I realized that many students in the Immersion program immigrated to the U.S and knew little to no English. They had a hard time learning in school, making friends, and speaking English to others.

This year, I have been currently working on gaining my Gold award which is the highest rank in girls scouts. For my Gold project, I decided that I wanted to help migrant children who only speak Spanish read and translate a book into English.

I would gather friends and volunteers who are taking Spanish in school or are native speakers to help tutor the children on Google Meets. My program will be three to four weeks on the weekend so that the kids can grasp the content fully. At the end of my program, the students will be able to analyze and comprehend the book in English.

In order to complete my project, I need native speaking students who like to learn English; they must range from the ages of 10 to 12. Attached below is a sign-up form if you know anyone in need of tutoring. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at deanna.morgan@aasuccess.org.

Thank you so much and I look forward to hearing from you. Be safe and stay healthy!”

Featured article: https://blog.aasuccess.org/diversity-at-aasuccess/

Link to apply as a student >>

Link to apply as a tutor >>

Art Gallery Fundraiser

Want to use your skills for a good cause? We are calling for all volunteers to participate in this fun yet meaningful project led by Linh Le, a Level 1 AASuccess Student.

Timeline: September 2020 – March 2021
Key Member: Linh Le, a Sophomore at Poolesville High School
Goal: Raise at least $600 to donate to Art Works Studio School, which will go towards providing 6 students with 10 weeks of art classes OR towards hiring an ASL interpreter. Art Works Studio School is a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. with the mission to help adults and young children learn art
through accessible programs in schools that may not offer creative education.
How: Raising fund via creating and selling artworks. Linh will be holding an art workshop once a week with all of the members to create art together, which include all types of mediums, from watercolor to acrylics to pencil sketches.
Result-To-Date: Organized weekly virtually meetings to learn how to create art together with 3 main participants.

From the Smallest to the Biggest Things

As part of the DELTA program, last Summer, two students in Vietnam Khoi-Nguyen Nguyen and Nam Nguyen started to collect recycled trash, sell them to the scrap shop, use the money to buy food and gifts, then give to underserved families around their neighborhood.

Timeline: August 2020 – October 2020
Key Members: Khoi-Nguyen Nguyen and Nam Nguyen, 7th grader at Le Loi Secondary School
Goal: Help people around our neighborhood while protecting the environment
How: Raising fund via collecting and selling recycle materials, then buy gifts and foods to give out to the underserved families in our neighborhood.
Result-To-Date: Raised 300,000 VND and gave out presents to 3 families. Reached a total of 14 people. Spent time playing and engaging with people from these families.

Featured article: https://blog.aasuccess.org/recycle-to-support-our-neighbors/

Hand Sanitizer for Underserved Community

Recently, there was a COVID-19 breakout in Vietnam. Hand sanitizer and face mask are completely sold-out, and are very difficult to buy. 2 middle school students in Vietnam, Tram and Truc, quickly realized that they were in a position to help the community in a meaningful way by producing hand sanitizer. Their first bottling was hand-made based on a recipe that they found on the internet. It met the basic alcohol-by-volume required to kill bacteria and viruses. Tram and Truc then gave out these bottles of homemade hand sanitizer to the underserved community at their hometown in Di Linh, Lam Dong Province, Vietnam. Through this project, they hope to make a small and humble contribution to the fight against COVID 19.

Timeline: August 2020 – October 2020
Key Members: Tram Nguyen, 9th grader at Nguyen Du Secondary School, and Truc Ta, 9th grader at Lien Dam Secondary School
Goal: Spread awareness about COVID-19 at Di Linh, Lam Dong, and providing hand sanitizer to poor people so they can wash their hands frequently.
How: Using the fund provided by AASuccess to buy the ingredients, Tram and Truc spent 2 days bottling hand sanitizer. They then met up to deliver the bottles together.
Result-To-Date: 60 bottles were made and given out to the underserved community at Di Linh, Lam Dong. The two students also engaged and had a meaningful conversation with the people there. They had a meal with one family afterwards.

Featured article: https://blog.aasuccess.org/hand-sanitizer-with-love/

Life Skills Workshop for College Students

As part of the live project of the Work Readiness Program, which allows students to demonstrate what they have learned in a business environment, three college students in Vietnam planned, organized, and hosted a free life skills workshop in front of more than 20 of their peers in English.

Timeline: June 2020

Key members: Thuat Vu, Thuy Vu, Luong Nguyen

Goals:

For the workshop attendees: engage them in positive behaviors that nurture their well-being and equips them with the necessary tools to make positive decisions
For the three students who hosted the workshop (who also student members of the Work Readiness Training program): The project serves as a training tool, which is designed to train them in project managing, practicing their public speaking skills, event planning skills, collecting and extracting information, as well as working as a team to deliver the result in a timely manner.

How
The three students work with each other weekly to plan, organize, discuss functions, recruit team members, figure out logistics details, and build the content for the workshop. They designed an invitation and sent out to their peers and successfully secured 24 attendees. Simultaneously, students met up with the Program Manager each Tuesday to update their progress and receive guidance on project management. On June 27, they presented their life skills workshop with 2 main topics: “Communication skills and How to Deal with Stress”. They also created a small game to engage the audiences, as well as a post-event survey to collect feedback.

Result-To-Date
95% of the attendees provided positive feedback to the organizing team, including criteria such as Content, Structure, Use of visual aids, Clarity / Expression, Ability to Handle Questions, and Time Control. The team also successfully reported their result summary and reflection in front of a group of mentors and students at AASuccess from the US.

Teaching Life Skills for Elementary Students

As part of the live project of the Work Readiness Program, which allows students to demonstrate what they have learned in a business environment, four college students in Vietnam planned, organized, and hosted a free life skills workshop for a classroom of elementary schoolers about how to smartly manage money.

Timeline: June 2020

Key members: Ha Nguyen, Long Le, Tho Nguyen, Vu Tran

Goals

For the workshop attendees: Engage them during the workshop with interesting activities to promote thought-provoking conversation about money while creating a safe atmosphere that will encourage students to make positive decisions
For the four students who hosted the workshop (who are student members of the Work Readiness Training program): The project serves as a training tool, which is designed to train them in project managing, practicing their public speaking skills, event planning skills, collecting and extracting information, as well as working as a team to deliver the result in a timely manner.

How

The four students work with each other weekly to plan, organize, discuss functions, recruit team members, figure out logistics details, and build the content for the workshop. They partnered with La San School in Ho Chi Minh, which is primarily kids from underserved families and were scheduled to be guest teachers to a group of elementary school students. On June 25, they presented their life skills workshop with the main topic: “How to Save Money for Children”. During the workshop, they facilitated the lesson through a game to better engage the students. They concluded the lesson with a Q&A session and a post-event survey to collect feedback from the kids.

Result-To-Date

The workshop was a success, the La San School students thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and were excited to participate. After giving the workshop, the organizers had time to review the feedback and reflect on their work style and the project they just completed. The team then completed the Work Readiness program by reporting their final results with an online presentation in front of a group of mentors and students from AASuccess.

Mini Newspaper

The Mini Newspaper is a collection of monthly updates, project summaries, shout-outs, and insightful interviews of our key members. The ultimate goal is to inspire and share joy among AASuccess students.

Timeline: May 2020 – Present
Key Members: Mentor Nguyen Nguyen (staff member) and students Jenna Buffenbarger and Phillip Nguyen work together in curating this collection of updates and preparing them for release to our internal AASuccess community.
Goals:
- To keep AAS members up-to-date with one another, spread joy among our community during the quarantine period, provide insightful information about the activities of AASuccess, and present the caring and family culture of AASuccess.
- The Mini Newspaper is also used as a project training tool, which is designed to train AASuccess students in writing, practicing their interview skills, collecting and extracting information, as well as working as a team to deliver the result in a timely manner.
How: Students work with each other weekly to collect information, edit material, and design the newsletter in a fun, appealing format. It is sent to all members, including the board members, at the end of the month via email.
Result-To-Date: The Mini Newspaper is sent out each month to all AAS members. Articles currently consist of topics such as Highlights of the Month, Mentor-Mentee Interview, Articles Worth Checking Out, Fun Product Reviews, and Jokes of the Month.

Wellness Bingo Competition

During times of quarantine and social distancing due to COVID-19, it can be difficult to find the motivation to exercise. Therefore, the Wellness Bingo Competition was created as a fun, engaging way to get all AASuccess members to start exercising and taking care of their physical and mental health.

Timeline: May 2020 – June 2020
Key Members: A team of students consisting of Daniel Nguyen, McKenzie Tran, Jenna Buffenbarger, and Colby Pham led the project.
Goal: The goal of the fitness bingo board is to provide AASuccess students and mentors with a collection of different exercises and activities to boost their physical and mental health, while also engaging in a friendly competition with fellow peers during quarantine.
How: All participating AASuccess members and friends were split into different groups. For an entire month, a bingo board was released each week containing 25 different exercises and activities that emphasized a healthy lifestyle. Each team member worked individually to complete the bingo board, gaining points for their team along the way.
Result-To-Date: After four weeks of intense exercising and competition, the winning team emerged, consisting of AASuccess members Wendy, Nguyen, Cho Kiu, Vihanh, and Nam. From this project, everyone gained a large collection of new, exciting activities to try at home, motivated one another to practice healthy habits in their everyday lives, and pushed one another to exercise every week together.

Lasting Legacy Projects

“Lasting Legacy,” means leaving a community better than it is found through one’s own actions. In the wake of the horrific crimes committed against the black community nationwide, AASuccess is organizing service projects dedicated to raising awareness for racial equality in our communities. Students and mentors will work together to brainstorm creative projects that are designed to combat racial inequality, whether that be through social media campaigns or educational forums. We want to execute ideas that stretch beyond donations and help bridge the gap between minorities at our own capacities.

Key Member: This project is organized by Board Member, Wendy Yuan.
Goal: (1) To raise awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement, while also learning how to combat systemic racism in our communities and (2) To instill a sense of duty and activism among our younger members by giving our students the guidance, platform, and support to stand up for what they believe in.
How: All students and mentors of AASuccess have been split up into four groups to brainstorm a creative project idea that will help raise awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Result-To-Date: Currently, all four groups have submitted their project proposals and have transitioned into the planning phase for their Lasting Legacy projects.
Group 1’s project: Heath Fair to provide free basic health services such as blood test, HIV testing, and hepatitis screenings in order to support the Black Lives Matter movement and strengthen the bond within sectors of the BIPOC community.
- Provide complimentary basic health services to underserved communities, low-income families, and those who do not have health insurance. We hope to bring awareness to health disparities affecting minorities, specifically the black community.
Group 2’s project: Collaboration with Little Lights Urban Ministries
- Our team of mentors and mentees would reach out to this organization for a potential collaboration/partnership (preferably in mentoring) during this summer 2020.
- Provide support to Little Lights Urban Ministries to further their mission in building a community of racial and class reconciliation via academic support and character development.
Group 3’s project: Create infographic to bridge knowledge gaps about racial issues
- - Collect information and create graphics to increase knowledge on the BLM related matters. We will focus on showcasing youth-led movements and possible solutions in education.
Group 4’s project: Book Club and Art Gallery
- Create a newspaper portfolio that contains different pieces of art that express our feelings for the BLM movement. After reading a book that highlights the importance of the dismantling of systemic racism, we will be able to display our understanding through different mediums.