Koa’s Journey through SBYC

Growing up, I was never involved in my community. I was very sheltered, and in the school environments I grew up in, it felt like people didn’t care and were disconnected from one another. We had all the kids from minority populations. Our schools were under-resourced, underfunded, and most of us came from immigrant families. Adults didn’t have time to care for us and didn’t have expectations for us to succeed anywhere in life. 

Because of this, I joined SBYC with absolutely zero expectations. I’ve been with school programs that have been advertised for the youth, but they’ve felt disingenuous; it felt more like the people in the program were there for their resumes and college or to do outreach without actually listening to the community. Adults don’t give the time and day to meaningfully support young people like me. Right now, decisions that affect our community are made by older people who represent just a small portion of our community. But actually seeing adults like the staff at SBYC actively engaging young people and believing that we can change our community, helped me create a deeper connection to my community.

I remember the end of the summer program (Critical Connections Summer) when we gave affirmations to each other. As the only senior in the program, I knew this was going to be my only year to build relationships with these people. I thought I didn’t mean much to these people because I'll be gone. But people affirmed me. I had an impact on other people, and I was able to share that other people had an impact on me too. There was no pressure to say or do anything; it was truthful and caring in the amount of compassion we had for each other.

It’s hard to see how much I’ve grown. Yet, when I look back at just this past year of being a SBYC member, I see how I’ve gradually changed. SBYC allowed me an opportunity to meet other young people who were passionate about social justice, be more confident overall, and be actively engaged in my community. I am more open with being myself, not being afraid to tell people my pronouns, and I am able to extend more care to other people. I want to see this transformation happen for other young people in the South Bay, so I am asking you to cultivate our garden, this community we’ve grown. We’re raising $20,000 this Fall to grow the connections and skills of Asian American youth to organize across the South Bay.

Will you donate $100 dollars for the 10 youth in our action research team surveying South Bay high school youth about their relationship to student power?

Here are some other $  meaningful amounts!

  • $1250 for the number of surveys our youth are collecting from high schoolers in the South Bay

  • $600 for the 60+ youth who have been part of our various programs

  • $240 for the 24 alumni who have graduated from our programs

  • $180 for the 18 schools that our youth represent

  • $80 for 8 of the 11 South Bay high school districts represented in our membership

  • $46 for the 46 youth who have participated in our summer programs, the next generation of youth leaders

  • $30 for the 3 staff supporting our youth and growing our organization

With love,
Koa Tran
Andrew P. Hill High School, Class of 2022