Starting June 1st, all leaders of the Greater Princeton branch of AYLUS (GPA) are submitting their Mid-Term Self Performance Reviews.
GPA hosts an annual election at the beginning of each year. Leader positions include president, vice president, regional development minister, secretary, and committee chairs. All leader positions are for 12 months, however, they need to pass a performance review in June.
After the review process, GPA offers promotion to leaders who have outstanding performances and downgrades underperforming leaders. The purpose is solely to improve the leadership and for the healthy growth of our branch.
Below are 3 examples of self performance reviews by Karen Yang, Sarah Liu, and Sarah Yan:
Greater Princeton AYLUS Mid-Term Self Performance Review
Karen Yang-Journalism Committee Chair
From 2020 to 2021, even amid a pandemic, I’ve tried my best to involve myself in a myriad of AYLUS activities. During this tumultuous time, I continued to do my tasks as diligently as possible, staying in contact with other members of the AYLUS community to work on various meaningful projects. I was very blessed to become the Journalism Committee Chair for the Greater Princeton AYLUS branch, a role I am very grateful and happy to have.
First, with this role, I’m currently working on an interview project with various AYLUS members from around the country. I’ve interviewed so far with Cassie Tammy Wang and written an article on her experience. This role and project have been extremely gratifying as I love reporting and seeing my words and articles be used for something extremely meaningful and enlightening. I also wrote an article about the Greater Princeton AYLUS branch in the local school newspaper, which gave a unique insight into our wonderful organization. As deputy editor-in-chief at the AYLUS Times, I’ve grown to edit works and communicate with my peers. Again, as a passionate writer, that has been a very fulfilling job. I hope to continue editing student work, writing reports and articles about the AYLUS community.
I’ve also launched a writing workshop with another AYLUS member, Eliana Du. Here, we teach 15+ students about the basics of writing and give them creative writing prompts. Here, I’ve seen my students grow and find a passion for writing; they submit to our newsletter and a website is in the works. This would not be possible without the support of AYLUS and I have tried to give back by recruiting more active members. Similarly, through my math tutoring role, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn from them as well and see their persisting attitude. I find it incredible that even as a pandemic hurts everyone, I still get to teach some of my favorite subjects and I hope to continue to do so.
My future goals for my time in AYLUS include supporting my students in various ways, creating engaging lessons, prompts and addressing their mental needs as well. I would also like to expand my writer’s workshop and math class to help other students as well, especially if they are or have been struggling. Similarly, I want to continue writing engaging and essential articles for local newspapers and our very newsletter, to increase our message and allow more people to learn about our mission. Last, I also look forward to being able to do more in person events once the pandemic permits and continue to spread the joy of helping others with my peers too. I hope to expand the AYLUS efforts of helping each other and the community. Thank you!
Greater Princeton AYLUS Mid-Term Self Performance Review
Sarah Liu-Regional Development Minister
From January 2021 to the end of May 2021, the Greater Princeton AYLUS Branch launched many initiatives and events that helped us give back to our community. These events included measures to encourage our community during the pandemic, creating gifts and concerts, donating to our community, and participating in tree-planting events to benefit the environment. During the first half of the year, I participated in many events hosted by the Greater Princeton AYLUS: creating posters, donating toys and clothing, advocating for the Stop Asian Hate movement, and participating in spring tree-planting events.
Additionally, I encouraged my peers at my school to join the branch and to participate in our activities. During our monthly meetings, I introduced activities that I had researched previously, and participated in discussions about how to proceed with them and expand the membership of the Greater Princeton AYLUS Branch. Overall, the first half of the year was successful for the Greater Princeton AYLUS members and our branch itself as we were able to volunteer and give back on all aspects of the community.
For the second half of the year, I plan to continue expanding the awareness of the Greater Princeton branch of AYLUS where I live and at my school by advertising the events of AYLUS on social media and asking friends if they would like to participate in the events or join the branch.
After more members get their vaccinations, I plan to propose and launch new initiatives that can allow branch members to work together as a group (and in-person) with new events. These events include meal-packaging events that would involve working together to package meals and distribute them to families and individuals in need. Additionally, I suggest that our branch could participate in more mental health-related events too, such as participating in walks to advocate for mental health, and teaching about mental health to other members as well. Furthermore, I intend to expand the tutoring service that our branch provides, as it only tutors chess and math. We can organize and launch tutoring services over the summer, like a summer program or a get-ahead program for students who are eager to learn ahead. This can also allow members to be more involved in the branch if they have strengths in certain subjects (that they would have to be qualified to teach).
In addition, I plan to continue my participation in virtual/online events like the Citizen Archivist, continue my participation in environmental conservation events like tree-planting, recycling plastic bags and film, and adopting parks, and continue my participation in donations and fundraisers for AYLUS.
Greater Princeton AYLUS Mid-Term Self Performance Review
Sarah Yan-Sports Committee Chair
As the chair of the Sports Committee, during the first half of this 2021 year, I greatly enjoyed being able to express the ideas of AYLUS through chess classes and tournaments held online while also spreading the word of this organization to others.
Over the first half of 2021, the continuation of weekly chess classes along with monthly chess tournaments via zoom and websites such as chess.com and lichess.org greatly improved the skills of eager learners who wanted to challenge their mental capabilities in planning ahead and visualization. Once started at the West Windsor Branch Library and later changed online due to the pandemic during this time, classes are still held over zoom to ensure safety. This also lets others who are not in this area also learn the fascinating game of chess.
In addition to weekly chess classes and monthly tournaments, I have also worked on environmental projects such as recycling bags at McCaffery’s as well as planting trees in a special park. Acknowledging the importance of recycling and saving our planet, it is crucial to also spread the word to non AYLUS members about not only helping the Earth but also the activities we do here at AYLUS. Hopefully in the future, there will be more Greater Princeton AYLUS members and we can continue to expand this group.
For the next couple of months, I would definitely like to expand chess class by opening up a new cycle for both beginner and intermediate classes. This means that new inspired kids can have the chance to learn how to play chess from scratch. Planned for after the school year ends and the beginning of summer, this will wrap up the current beginner class and possibly move them to the intermediate group, leaving room for brand new students. To add on, I also hope to create a large combined chess tournament with other branches of AYLUS, as I’ve seen some other talented chess players also host their own classes. Along with expanding the chess classes, I also plan to add possibly new events that help fundraise for AYLUS.
Participants: Cassie Tammy Wang, Annabelle Huang, Alissa Wu, Fengqi Wen, Xinyi C. Zhang, Xin Chen, Zihui Xiao, Lan Cheng, Amy Lin, Anthony F. Yang, Steven Li, Sarah Liu, Karen Yang, Sarah Yan, Fiona Fan, Donna Nagorny, Gina Shen, Amy Xu, Amber Yu, and more!
