TESTIMONIALS
Welcome to AASuccess!
Preparation Process Prior to the 2008 AASuccess Scholarship/Award Ceremony
3 more days til show time!
I know that everyone has been very busy this past month helping us prepare for April 27! Ian and I are very excited and thankful for all the work this team has done! You have all pulled together and helped out wherever and whenever you can. Here's just a quick update since the last email I sent about our progress.
Just a few weeks ago, we were just going crazy with writing invitation letters and putting the word out about the event. I remember calling Dan Ye one night asking him to help and he immediately drafted two letters and emailed it to us less than 12 hours later. At the same time, Mimi Luu had to give Ian Dang a quick tutorial lesson on creating a mail merge. Ian stayed up late two nights in a row until he learned it and was able to send out the 100+ letters to our sponsors/donors within 48 hours. Dave Nguyen and Jim Alstrum had a similar challenge as they worked on the letters to the parents and press release. BUT at the end, we did it!
Song Park was also presented with the task to invite a keynote speaker. Not a very easy task by far. But not only did Song find a speaker, but a very highly revered and notable individual who has been honored with numerous leadership awards for his advocacy work in the community! Mr. Ollie Cantos is the Special Counsel to the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice. I was already inspired just by reading Mr. Cantos' bio. Thanks Song!
There was also the scholarship application. Besides updating the scholarship application, we also had to create the evaluation tool and blindfold all 25+ applications. Michael Schoenfeld and John Nguyen assisted for 2 weeks with drafting the evaluation tool to make sure it was impartial, appropriate, concise and applicable. We went through many drafts and testing before it was ready for prime-time. This piece worked out fairly smoothly during the judging thanks to Michael and John for their insight and feedback!
On April 13, we had to recruit judges to score and interview these applications. Thanks to our sponsors, Chau Nguyen, Greg Welty and Mike Eastman along with our professionals, John, Sammi Foong and Kristine Phan for graciously volunteering to be a part of this. Even though Mike was on a trip with his family, he still made time to review and rate the applications, remotely.
Of course, much thanks to David Montinari, who was only given less than an hour notice to be a judge, because we fell short due to some unfortunate personal family emergencies. It was an intense 5-hour process but we have this year's winners! (to be announced on April 27) It was by far a very great learning and enjoyable experience for all!
On top of this, Dave, Sumesh Kaushal, Phoebe Nguyen, Hanh and Diane Nguyen have been working tirelessly on getting the logistics, decorations, food, and facility organized and prepared. Thanks to them, we will have light refreshments and drinks served at the event. There job is not done just yet. There is still much work needed the day of the event to make sure all goes smoothly.
I remember just 2 weeks ago, I was stymied on developing the program book. Thanks to our newly recruited professional, Lyly; she picked it up and designed a fabulous program book that we will have on Sunday and will use as a marketing tool at future events! She has been working closely with Dave and Ian on this. It's just what we needed! And with her beautiful calligraphy writing ability, she has offered to prepare the 30+ certificates for us!
On top of all this, AASuccess will also have two video clips that will be ready on Sunday. Bobby Nguyen, another new professional member of AAS accepted our request to be our Video Director . He artistically designed and created two amazing videos that we can use to promote AAS to potential sponsors. He was very meticulous and careful as to make sure everything was perfect and AAS was represented well.
There are many more professionals, such as Tam Nguyen, who is working with the students to make sure we have some musical entertainment at the event. ...and the list goes on....
Thank you for your professionalism, positive attitude and the numerous hours and efforts you have dedicated to this event. You are all models for our youth and future leaders!
Best,
Irina and Ian
Testimonial from the Co-Chair of the 2008 AASuccess Award/Scholarship Program and Ceremony
Thank you everyone for attending our scholarship ceremony yesterday. It was a great success with so many familiar friendly faces in the audience. Even though Mr. Ian Dang, my Project Co-Lead, was sitting quietly in the audience, he very much wanted to meet and congratulate all the recipients if he was not slowly recovering from a major asthma attack the night before. His insistence on attending shows how much he wanted to be there and not miss this event. Thankfully, he is now feeling better.
I also want to highlight some very special moments from this past Sunday's event. The event started out with our keynote speaker, Mr. Ollie Cantos, who wowed the audience with his inspirational life stories. Unfortunately, Mr. Cantos had to depart early for a Presidential event at the Kennedy Center; otherwise, he would have heard the many compliments about him during the event from the audience. The guests hung onto every word he said long after Mr. Cantos left the room. There was no way to describe how moved everyone was. It was definitely an honor and a delight to have Mr. Cantos present at our event and to hear him speak so pragmatically and eloquently.
It was a hard act to follow but the Master of Ceremony, Mr. Song Park, was able to carry on that energy the rest of the way. Everyone remained engaged and entertained as the ceremony continued with the announcement of the 2008 scholarship recipients.
Another touching moment came when the Executive Director, Mr. Dave Nguyen, was presented with a thoughtful gift from the AASuccess student members. The students surprised him with a huge Thank You card that captured all their appreciation for their mentor, friend, and leader. Dave is a very humble man who has a big heart and strong passion for AASuccess and everyone that comes into this life. He works very hard and remains grounded, considering how successful he is in both his professional and personal life, which his colleagues and friends can attest to.
We hope that you enjoyed the event! Thanks again for coming out to support us and showing our students how much you care about them. We look forward to many more exciting events in 2008! Stay tuned!
Best,
Irina Nguyen
This below testimonial is from Michelle Le, one of the 2008 AASuccess Scholarship Recipient:
Mr. Dave Nguyen,
I would like to take the time to personally thank you for giving me the oppurtunity to apply for the AASuccess scholarship. This scholarship made me reflect on all the volunteer activities I had participated in. It made me realize the importance of philantrophic work and the impact I will leave on those that follow. What you and your executive board members are accomplishing is really great. I believe your team is a good example of a role model the next generation should follow. I hope that AASuccess will continue to expand, and grow stronger as it progresses.
Absolutely stupendous and remarkable!! Thank you for inviting me to this phenomenal event! Fantastic jobs everyone!! I look forward to partaking/assisting/leading/organizing/etc...in future AAS Activities!
Have a jovial and prolific week!
Fondly,
~LyLy~
To Dave and all AASUCCESS members.
Thank you for inviting us.
Congratulation for another success.
Sang Tran, M.D
Huong Dang, M.D
To All
I was really pleased with the function, the attendance and the overall feeling I experienced.
Great job to all involved and thank you for letting me be a part of your lives and those of the students of AA Success
Ollie Santos left me with allot to ponder and to question. Fantastic speaker, highly inspirational!
Mostly I was impressed with the quality of the winners and their ability to answer the 2 minute question and what appeared to be a lack of stage fright. Truly remarkable.
Have a great day everyone and thanks again.
Mike
Mike Eastman
Vice President
Senior Loan Officer - Nationwide
Underwriting the American DreamTM
3 more days til show time!
I know that everyone has been very busy this past month helping us prepare for April 27! Ian and I are very excited and thankful for all the work this team has done! You have all pulled together and helped out wherever and whenever you can. Here's just a quick update since the last email I sent about our progress.
Just a few weeks ago, we were just going crazy with writing invitation letters and putting the word out about the event. I remember calling Dan Ye one night asking him to help and he immediately drafted two letters and emailed it to us less than 12 hours later. At the same time, Mimi Luu had to give Ian Dang a quick tutorial lesson on creating a mail merge. Ian stayed up late two nights in a row until he learned it and was able to send out the 100+ letters to our sponsors/donors within 48 hours. Dave Nguyen and Jim Alstrum had a similar challenge as they worked on the letters to the parents and press release. BUT at the end, we did it!
Song Park was also presented with the task to invite a keynote speaker. Not a very easy task by far. But not only did Song find a speaker, but a very highly revered and notable individual who has been honored with numerous leadership awards for his advocacy work in the community! Mr. Ollie Cantos is the Special Counsel to the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice. I was already inspired just by reading Mr. Cantos' bio. Thanks Song!
There was also the scholarship application. Besides updating the scholarship application, we also had to create the evaluation tool and blindfold all 25+ applications. Michael Schoenfeld and John Nguyen assisted for 2 weeks with drafting the evaluation tool to make sure it was impartial, appropriate, concise and applicable. We went through many drafts and testing before it was ready for prime-time. This piece worked out fairly smoothly during the judging thanks to Michael and John for their insight and feedback!
On April 13, we had to recruit judges to score and interview these applications. Thanks to our sponsors, Chau Nguyen, Greg Welty and Mike Eastman along with our professionals, John, Sammi Foong and Kristine Phan for graciously volunteering to be a part of this. Even though Mike was on a trip with his family, he still made time to review and rate the applications, remotely.
Of course, much thanks to David Montinari, who was only given less than an hour notice to be a judge, because we fell short due to some unfortunate personal family emergencies. It was an intense 5-hour process but we have this year's winners! (to be announced on April 27) It was by far a very great learning and enjoyable experience for all!
On top of this, Dave, Sumesh Kaushal, Phoebe Nguyen, Hanh and Diane Nguyen have been working tirelessly on getting the logistics, decorations, food, and facility organized and prepared. Thanks to them, we will have light refreshments and drinks served at the event. There job is not done just yet. There is still much work needed the day of the event to make sure all goes smoothly.
I remember just 2 weeks ago, I was stymied on developing the program book. Thanks to our newly recruited professional, Lyly; she picked it up and designed a fabulous program book that we will have on Sunday and will use as a marketing tool at future events! She has been working closely with Dave and Ian on this. It's just what we needed! And with her beautiful calligraphy writing ability, she has offered to prepare the 30+ certificates for us!
On top of all this, AASuccess will also have two video clips that will be ready on Sunday. Bobby Nguyen, another new professional member of AAS accepted our request to be our Video Director . He artistically designed and created two amazing videos that we can use to promote AAS to potential sponsors. He was very meticulous and careful as to make sure everything was perfect and AAS was represented well.
There are many more professionals, such as Tam Nguyen, who is working with the students to make sure we have some musical entertainment at the event. ...and the list goes on....
Thank you for your professionalism, positive attitude and the numerous hours and efforts you have dedicated to this event. You are all models for our youth and future leaders!
Best,
Irina and Ian
Testimonial from the Co-Chair of the 2008 AASuccess Award/Scholarship Program and Ceremony
Thank you everyone for attending our scholarship ceremony yesterday. It was a great success with so many familiar friendly faces in the audience. Even though Mr. Ian Dang, my Project Co-Lead, was sitting quietly in the audience, he very much wanted to meet and congratulate all the recipients if he was not slowly recovering from a major asthma attack the night before. His insistence on attending shows how much he wanted to be there and not miss this event. Thankfully, he is now feeling better.
I also want to highlight some very special moments from this past Sunday's event. The event started out with our keynote speaker, Mr. Ollie Cantos, who wowed the audience with his inspirational life stories. Unfortunately, Mr. Cantos had to depart early for a Presidential event at the Kennedy Center; otherwise, he would have heard the many compliments about him during the event from the audience. The guests hung onto every word he said long after Mr. Cantos left the room. There was no way to describe how moved everyone was. It was definitely an honor and a delight to have Mr. Cantos present at our event and to hear him speak so pragmatically and eloquently.
It was a hard act to follow but the Master of Ceremony, Mr. Song Park, was able to carry on that energy the rest of the way. Everyone remained engaged and entertained as the ceremony continued with the announcement of the 2008 scholarship recipients.
Another touching moment came when the Executive Director, Mr. Dave Nguyen, was presented with a thoughtful gift from the AASuccess student members. The students surprised him with a huge Thank You card that captured all their appreciation for their mentor, friend, and leader. Dave is a very humble man who has a big heart and strong passion for AASuccess and everyone that comes into this life. He works very hard and remains grounded, considering how successful he is in both his professional and personal life, which his colleagues and friends can attest to.
We hope that you enjoyed the event! Thanks again for coming out to support us and showing our students how much you care about them. We look forward to many more exciting events in 2008! Stay tuned!
Best,
Irina Nguyen
This below testimonial is from Michelle Le, one of the 2008 AASuccess Scholarship Recipient:
Mr. Dave Nguyen,
I would like to take the time to personally thank you for giving me the oppurtunity to apply for the AASuccess scholarship. This scholarship made me reflect on all the volunteer activities I had participated in. It made me realize the importance of philantrophic work and the impact I will leave on those that follow. What you and your executive board members are accomplishing is really great. I believe your team is a good example of a role model the next generation should follow. I hope that AASuccess will continue to expand, and grow stronger as it progresses.
Absolutely stupendous and remarkable!! Thank you for inviting me to this phenomenal event! Fantastic jobs everyone!! I look forward to partaking/assisting/leading/organizing/etc...in future AAS Activities!
Have a jovial and prolific week!
Fondly,
~LyLy~
To Dave and all AASUCCESS members.
Thank you for inviting us.
Congratulation for another success.
Sang Tran, M.D
Huong Dang, M.D
To All
I was really pleased with the function, the attendance and the overall feeling I experienced.
Great job to all involved and thank you for letting me be a part of your lives and those of the students of AA Success
Ollie Santos left me with allot to ponder and to question. Fantastic speaker, highly inspirational!
Mostly I was impressed with the quality of the winners and their ability to answer the 2 minute question and what appeared to be a lack of stage fright. Truly remarkable.
Have a great day everyone and thanks again.
Mike
Mike Eastman
Vice President
Senior Loan Officer - Nationwide
Underwriting the American DreamTM