Status: ACTIVE
On March 18th, 2021, three high school students in California founded the eighty-eighth branch for the Alliance of Youth Leaders in the United States (AYLUS): Saratoga, CA.
Founders:
Congratulations to (from left) Charlotte Shi, Justin Shen, and Angella Zhao of the Saratoga Branch! Great job!
Current branch leadership:
(From left to right) Charlotte Shi, Justin Shen, and Grace Wang
Branch Mascot, Benson Hu
Description of the Saratoga Branch
The missions of this new branch include saving the environment, improving people’s body health, caring for others (elders, people with disabilities, etc.), bringing technology familiarity to students, and enhancing the inclusion of minorities.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, many workers could not do their jobs, such as cleaning up parks and local reserves. As a result, many places have become littered with trash, and this is harming the environment. During the pandemic, students spent most of their daily time on the computer and were lacking physical activity. We want to create a branch of AYLUS here to organize cleanups for the local parks, beaches, and neighborhoods surrounding Saratoga. By cleaning up parks, we can save the environment and improve body health as well.
With the isolation of public areas, water sources such as water fountains became unattended, so we decided to undertake a water analysis project. This involved checking safety through pH level kits, jotting down notes, and writing a research analysis report.
Seeing the amount of trash and e-waste, we work with RAFT to help build STEM kits. By using recyclable materials and repurposing e-waste, we aimed to decrease environmental impact. Our kits include items such as windmills, simple motors, and breadboard circuits, all made from modified and recycled materials.
Face masks can reduce the spread of Covid-19. But many off-the-shelf masks do not fit well with young kids or people with glasses or hearing-aid devices. During the pandemic, we used 3D printers to create face mask extenders and distribute them to some local school districts and medical foundations. The feedbacks were really positive. We want to use this new branch of AYLUS to rally more students to brainstorm more ideas to care for others.
During distant learning, we found that not all the students are familiar with computer technology. In the past, we have learned some program languages (like Python, Java, Script, etc.), 3D printing, Raspberry Pi, and Arduino. We want to use this new branch of AYLUS to tutor students in these domains, which will help students in STEM. Where with our local Chinese School we hosted 2 summer camps to teach technology like Arduino, Python, Java, and AI.
Recently, more and more racism and violence against minorities (especially, Asian American and Pacific Islander, AAPI). We want to use this new branch of AYLUS to help the local community, show the contribution or care from AAPI, and improve the inclusion of minorities.
As a summary, we are going to organize biweekly or monthly activities mentioned above.
Branch Leadership
| Position | Name | |
| President | Charlotte Shi | charlotteshilele@gmail.com |
| Vice President | Justin Shen | justinshen2006@gmail.com |
| Secretary | Grace Wang | wanggrace2797@gmail.com |
| Advisor | Hualiang Shi | hualiang.shi@gmail.com |
Branch Members
| Position | Name | |
| Member | Angel Shi | angel.shihu@gmail.com |
| Member | Angela Xu | xuluhua@gmail.com |
| Member | Lilah Sage Monserrat | t.sakhrani@gmail.com |
| Member | Iniya Prabhu | iniyasudha84@gmail.com |
| Member | Qixuan Yao | yao237900@gmail.com |
| Member | Grace Wang | wangrace2797@gmail.com |
| Member | Richard Song | isingisongihappy@gmail.com |
| Member | Jenny Tian | zh88.tian@gmail.com |
| Member | Chloe Shen | shushushen@yahoo.com |
| Member | Annie Wu | annieyuxin.wu@gmail.com |
| Member | Sophie Pin | sophie601@gmail.com |
| Member | Jacquelyn Zhou | |
| Member | Joycelyn Zhou | |
| Member | Jian Shen | |
| Member | Tiantian Hu | |
| Member | Amy Zhao | |
| Member | Colin H. Wang | |
| Member | XueFueng Wang | |
| Member | Yajuan Cao | |
| Member | Angella Zhao | |
| Member | Xuelian Zhu | |
| Member | Gao Mao | |
| Member | Matt Gao | |
| Member | Zuoming Zhao | |
| Member | Tasha Monserrat | |
| Member | Shu Zhang | |
| Member | Yian Song | |
| Member | Yan Liang | |
| Member | Truman You | |
| Member | Richard Song | |
| Member | Jeff Wang | |
| Member | Doudou Wang | |
| Member | Janet Feng | |
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Activities:
- Local park + beach + neighborhood cleanups
- Water Analysis Project
- Poster distribution to spread awareness of problems
- Volunteering with external groups such as FMSC, RAFT, 2nd Harvest
- STEM kit building
- 3D Mask Extenders
- Community gardening