2008 New Leaders Summer Interns
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Olivia Chow
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Age: 21
School: University of California, Berkeley
Interests: Asian American and education issues, baking, and tennis
Internship: APIAVote
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Olivia is a Political Science student with minors in Education and Public Policy. As a native to the San Francisco Bay Area, Olivia has been engaged in the intersection of government and community for her community through various positions throughout her college career. She served as Campus Organizer for Tuition Relief Now! the first-ever student-led ballot initiative campaign to stop tuition fee hikes at California public universities. She served as a legislative intern for California State Senator Leland Yee researching education issues and programming community events for constituents. As a Berkeley student she served as the President of the Asian American Association and as Programmer for the Asian Pacific American Coalition promoting community building and action through the coalition. |
"Being President of the Asian American Association gave me confidence, professional skills, my best friends, and a passion that drives me to support the APIA community to my capacity with each and every encounter I embark upon."
- Olivia Chow,
2008 New Leaders Summer Intern |
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| More about Olivia |
What are you most passionate about?
I am passionate about racial justice and empowering leaders through education.
You're stranded on a deserted island. What is one book or album that you can't live without?
The Joy Luck Club gets to the heart of family values and the relationships we hold with one another. While we each hold our own weaknesses we find strengths through our relationships with one another and with eight main characters I could read the stories over and over again from different points of view. The Album I could not live without would be Yellowcard’s Ocean Avenue because the songs carry all the memories of my friends and family at home
What do you hope to take away from your experience as a CPL New Leader?
The perception of Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) on my campus has been such an eye opening experience for me. As president of the Asian American Association (AAA), I’ve realized that the dynamics on my campus is one of constant struggle and conflict. This forces AAPI organizations to defend their rights to exist and instead of collaborating we fight that much harder to have our passions acknowledged. This splits our community and generates very ugly student politics with the governing body and overall campus. AAA strives to create a community for members to build their confidence, to identify themselves for who they are. These are the foundations to proactive leaders based on their personal interests. AAA gave me confidence, professional skills, my best friends, and a passion that drives me to support the APIA community to my capacity with each and every encounter I embark upon. My experience has developed a confidence in myself and my ability to contribute to the New Leaders Program. |
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