Thursday, June 17

Youth Leadership Traning

The Business Advisory Council (BAC) went offsite for their meeting at Maggiano’s Little Italy where they had lunch served family style and listened to special guest, Gordon Quan, who touched on Immigration Reform.

College Leadership Training

To welcome OCA attendees, OCA Greater Houston put on an amazing reception with a focus on Asian Pacific Americans in the Creative Arts. The highlight of the evening was a fashion show by a local fashion designer, Danny Nguyen and a talk with film directors, Christine Toy Johnson and Bruce Johnson about their film, “Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story.”

 

Friday, June 18

The Opening Plenary entitled “Green Energy, Green Economy” centered around the convention theme, Diverse Communities-United Commitment with an emphasis on increasing the APA community’s commitment to the environment, alternative energy, technology, and green businesses. Mayor Annise Parker greeted attendees to Houston to start off the plenary session followed by Nick Lampson, Former US House of Representative Member, Floyd Mori, Executive Director of JACL, and Laura Spanijan, City of Houston Sustainability Director.

Youth Recognition Luncheon

The Youth Recognition Luncheon recognized the 2010 Summer Internship Class and thanked our many sponsors for their commitment to education. Jennifer Kao, OCA San Mateo’s Speak and Lead winner read her winning essay about education. Then, luncheons keynote speakers Wei Chen and Duy Ngoc Nguyen spoke on behalf of the South Philadelphia High School students who drew national headlines last year when they staged an 8-day boycott of their school following repeated physical assaults and harassments.

Audience at Starry Night Festival

Taiko performance

To wrap up Friday’s long day, guests loaded onto buses that took them on a police-escorted tour of Asia town, ending at the Chinese Community Center. At the center, guests enjoyed a night filled with samplings of Houston’s cuisine, games, a film screening, and amazing entertainment that showcased Houston’s diversity. Performances included Johnny HiFi, Giles Li, Taiko, and Mariachi Imperial.

Saturday, June 19

The State of APA Summit kicked off day 3 of the convention and focused on the changing demographics of the APA community in relationship to other national demographic changes. Panelists included: Dr. Stephen Klineberg, Professor of Sociology at Rice University, Larry Shinagawa, Associate Professor and Director of Asian American Studies at University of Maryland and Andrew Chang, graduate student at the University of Florida and 2009 OCA Intern.

 

Speakers of the State of APA Summit

The day was full of various workshops and panels ranging from perspectives of corporate and non-profit speakers talking about success and leadership development to racial profiling and immigration.

And alas…the event we were all waiting for…OCA Gala Awards Dinner!OCA presented their Unsung Heroes and UPS Gold Mountain winners and announced AT&T as this year’s Corporate Partner of the Year. OCA also was thrilled to present the Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award to Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, Executive Director of BPSOS. The Pioneer Awards were presented to Wat Misaka, the first person of color to play professional basketball and Dr. Leroy Chiao, the first APA commander of the International Space Station.  

For those who stayed on until Sunday, the morning started off with a breakfast and fashion show at Banana Republic, where OCA’s members modeled the latest Banana Republic fashion and enjoyed a 25% shopping discount!