On January 12th the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) kicked off the New Year by hosting the AAPI Youth Leadership Briefing to meet with students and discuss what the administration is doing to serve AAPI high school and college students. The full day event brought students from around the country to discuss access to higher education, student activism, community service and civil rights. The event sought to inspire youth to think about how they would address the issues which affect their community and to allow students to meet White House and government officials for guidance and mentorship to a career in public service.
The event featured remarks from officials from the Office of Public Engagement and WHIAAPI, Raj Shah of the US Agency for International Development, Je Yon Jung of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Parag Mehta from the Department of Labor, Mira Patel from the State Department, Konrad Ng of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program, and Don Yu from the Department of Education.
Belle Yan, a senior at Columbia University said that she “really appreciated the fact that so many students from so many different places were able to come and discuss the common issues they were all working on.” She noted that students at Columbia University were already planning action items based on what they had learned at the briefing and were going to host a panel on their campus to discuss AAPIs in public service.