News + Opinion

According to the National Council of Teachers of English, English Language Learners (ELL), also known as ESL (English as a Second Language), are the fastest growing population within the student community. Learning English can be a tough endeavor so we asked experts across the country what their top tips are. 1. Be patient and adjust expectations – Learning a new …

By Chris Peden One constant in life (besides death and taxes) seems to be cost of college rises quickly every year.  According to The College Board, tuition and fees for college have increased 5.4 percent annually above inflation in the decade following the 2001-2002 school year.  As a parent, I will lie awake at night wondering how we are going …

By Derek Mong On June 24 of this year, the Supreme Court was faced with a case that dealt with the age old debate of affirmative action and race-conscious admissions. Fisher v. University of Texas had the potential to reverse the constitutionality of race-conscious affirmative action policies that were established through legal precedent in rulings before. Over the years, the …

By Jennie L. Ilustre Maya Soetoro-Ng, peace educator, author and President Obama’s maternal half-sister, urged stronger “international and national collaboration” in fighting human trafficking, and lauded the work of organizations such as India-based Odanadi and Odanadi-US in rescuing and rehabilitating victims. “My brother’s administration is committed to solving this issue,” she said August 14 at the Center for American Progress …

By Devika Koppikar     At age 16, Phyllis Kesslen’s son Randy* took Mandarin in school with only two other students. Randy, now 17, is currently fluent in three world languages: Mandarin, Spanish and Latin, in addition to his native language, English.     Kesslen said that if she had her son attended a public school, he would not have had the …

The International Leadership Foundation (ILF) held its annual Leadership and Business Conference last August 1, featuring Former US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao as luncheon keynote speaker, national Asian American leaders, business and government executives as speakers and morning panelists, as well as honorees at its awards night. ILF CEO Chiling Tong remarked on opening session, “We combine the best …

Compiled by Mary Tablante Raymond Chen Confirmed to U.S. Court of Appeals Washington, D.C—On Aug. 1, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Raymond T. Chen to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is the first Asian American to serve on the court in more than 25 years and the fifth Asian American that President Obama …

By Jenny Chen By Jenny Chen When Bernadette Slowey’s son, Nick, was in 3rd grade, his teacher told Slowey that she might consider cognitive testing for her son. He was struggling with his reading but his teacher knew that Nick was an exceptionally bright child. As Nick progressed in school, he began getting frustrated with his differences in learning and …

By Jennie L. Ilustre “We need to have all our kids succeed in getting college education,” keynote speaker Tina Tchen stressed at the Higher Education Summit, held on June 25 in the nation’s capital. “What you all are doing is so important to making sure that all will reach that goal,”  she told leaders of the Asian & Pacific Islander …

By Yi Chen I was spending ten hours a day going through over a hundred hours of footage in the fall of 2012.  Like many independent documentary filmmakers, I was working on a project I felt so passionate about that I was determined to share it with the world. But there was one more thing left for me to figure …

By Jenny Chen In 1921, an Atlantic City hotel man came up with the idea of a beauty contest to bring more tourists to the city. The “National Beauty Tournament” aimed to find “the most beautiful bathing beauty in America.” The first Miss America winner was Margaret Gorman, a Washington D.C. native, who was crowned for her “wholesome beauty.” In …

By Daniel Tsoy Climbing the corporate ranks in America surely requires a lot of old fashioned hard work—meeting deadlines, crunching numbers, and coming into work even when you’ve got the sniffles. But is there more to it? 50 % of Asian Americans are college educated, well above the 28% average for the nation, yet somehow they remain largely absent from …

By Jenny Chen “Jay”* a first generation Indian American and single mom could not believe what she was hearing as she stood in her supervisor’s office. She was explaining to him how the changes in her schedule was impacting her ability to be there for her daughter. Her supervisor looked at her and said, “I am amazed that a person …

On July 13 the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) held its Annual Picnic at the Wheaton Regional Park for members and friends. Several local officials, including Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, Council Member-at-Large George Leventhal and Lily Qi, stopped by to participate in the happy occasion. FAPAC has been having a great year with the National Training Program held …

        Send us your photos from APA events throughout the month and we may publish them in our next issue! Photos can be sent to editor@asianfortune.com Asian Fortune is an English language newspaper for Asian American professionals in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Visit fb.com/asianfortune to stay up to date with our news and what’s going on in the …

By Jewel Edwards Phase 1 of the much anticipated Silver Line on the D.C. metro system is on schedule to be completed in Sept. 2013. Construction began on the Silver Line in March 2009. The first phase of the 23-mile extension of the existing Metrorail system will extend from East Falls Church to Wiehle Ave. in Reston, Va. and will …

By Jenny Chen Falls Church, Va. – The sun is setting over the Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Va. Inside, over a hundred Muslims and Jews from the Northern Virginia community are seated around round tables, listening to the Muslim call to prayer, led by high schooler Mohammed Aarif Abdul Kareem. It is Iftar, the breaking of the fast …

By Mary Tablante Watches for the Blind BOSTON—MIT graduate student and Korean American Hyungsoo Kim designed a watch that doesn’t require vision or sound; the watch allows people to check time without having to look at a watch or cellphone. Kim calls the watch a “timepiece,” not a watch, because “you don’t have to watch this to know the time.” …

Asian American LEAD’s (AALEAD) DC Elementary School Summer Program *This poem is a piece from AALEAD’s DC Elementary School Summer Program “I Am ME” workshop which focuses on helping youth explore identity through creative writing and visual arts. “I am…” By: Joline, rising 3rd grader I am Responsible and Respectful I wonder how dinosaurs died I hear people talking I see …

Several Asian American and Pacific Islander undocumented youths, members of Congress, and National AAPI leaders convened on July 31 on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building to raise awareness for immigration reform. The youths, recently approved under DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, demonstrated at the House Triangle today as part of their nine-city tour, “DREAM Riders: Road …

By Jewel Edwards In the wake of the Boston Bombings and a rash of destructive tornadoes in the Midwest, emergency preparedness is arguably more important in the U.S. than ever. Resilient DC is working to construct a framework by which communities in the Metropolitan area can map their assets, organize, and respond to disasters before they strike. The program is …

This morning, President Obama met with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) at the White House to discuss a range of important issues facing the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.  The President thanked CAPAC for their work to expand the middle class within AAPI communities and among all Americans, and said that he looks forward to continuing …

By Lily Qi We often hear public leaders say “our diversity is our strength,” which has become somewhat a cliché over the years. While I don’t doubt their sincerity in believing what they say, I wonder how many truly understand what it means to have a large, diverse, and global population in their communities. This past weekend, I attended the …

By Jennie L. Ilustre The all-volunteer World Health Ambassador Program (WHA), the lead coordinator for a big, multi-team, two-week medical and dental mission to Myanmar, recently announced the teams are continuing to raise funds for the project, estimated to cost about $75,000. Myanmar, formally known as Burma, is located in Southeast Asia. Dr. Thien Do, WHA founder and CEO, also …