On November 15th, 2024, Former State Controller Betty Yee was invited to the Turlock Unified School District’s Family Resource Center for a conversation “On Being Pan-Asian in the San Joaquin Valley.”
This event was hosted by the Pan-Asian Heritage Society (PAHS) which is a club on campus, more specifically, their President (me) and Vice President (Vein Santiago) were the lead organizers.
PAHS is a culture club that focuses on bringing awareness to all the various cultures in Asia. We hold monthly Culture Nights and Movie Nights in attempts to educate our members.
Vien and I had this idea September 3rd during 1st period. As everything does, this idea started with something and eventually morphed into what happened Friday.
Along with the event, the Stanislaus Coalition of Pan-Asian Organizations (SCPAO) was born. Vien and I founded this organization to band together the different Pan-Asian organizations/clubs around Stanislaus County.
As of Friday, SCPAO includes Pitman High School’s Madiha Haideri and Vien Santiago representing PAHS; Enochs High School’s Phoebe Rosales representing Enochs Filo Club; Gregori High School’s Shriya Sharma representing the Asian American Association; and Stanislaus State University’s Karisma Naidu representing the Asian Connections Club.
The event started with a panel of the Affiliate Chairs of the SCPAO followed by an interview between Yee and myself.
At the end of the event, Briana Padilla (PAHS Advisor) gave her closing remarks and presented Yee with a Certificate of Gratitude and Excellence for her service to both to us at the event and to California as a whole.
“It was really interesting getting to hear Betty Yee’s honest thoughts about growing up Asian American,” says Julian DeBoard, a senior at Pitman High.
“The event was incredibly well organized and attended. The student organizers prepared and asked intelligent questions both of the student panelists and Betty Yee. The panelists responded insightfully and eloquently. Yee offered a compelling case for her readiness to govern California,” adds Monica Cooke, English teacher at Pitman.
TUSD Director of Communications, Family Engagement, and Outreach, Marie Russell says, “The TUSD Family Resource Center was proud to host Pitman High School’s Pan-Asian Heritage Society’s inaugural event ‘On Being Pan-Asian in the San Joaquin Valley: Conversations on Representation and Intersectionality.’”
She continued, “ In a truly impressive feat they were able to draw Betty Yee, former State of CA Controller and 2026 Governor of CA candidate, to Turlock to share her story and engage in a dialogue with students. We always appreciate the opportunity to lift up student voices and diverse perspectives in TUSD.”
Overall, the event went great! There were multiple Board of Trustee Members present along with proud parents, teachers and engaged members of the various organizations in the SCPAO!