Category Archives: Resident Spotlights

Movie Review with Thraves

Charles Thraves, S-P resident

Charles Thraves, a graduate student in operations research at MIT and a resident at S-P recently watched the documentary Ivory Tower. We asked him for his thoughts on the film.

Thraves: Before going to the questions, I would say that I found a very interesting documentary, and that even though I suggest the outing to this event, it doesn’t mean that I agree 100% with all what it claims.

SPeaker: What did you know about the state of higher education in the US prior to watching the movie?

Thraves: I have known that there are plenty of offers in what higher education regards, where many names are in the top of the world. Also that higher education is a big step in life for U.S. citizens, and so is a big achievement to succeed in life.

SPeaker: What is one thing you learned by watching the movie?

Thraves: I learned different facets and issues that have been arising over the last decades. For example, the increasing student’s loans which now is exceeding a billion of dollars. This by itself may be reasonable since students are investing in their future. However, numerous institutions are operating like a business just aware to capture students by offering careers which hardly have a working field. In addition, some Universities are shaping according to stylize ranking measures, leading to huge expenditures on things which are very apart from educational purposes, and therefore increasing tuition costs. Also how online courses are entering into the stage to make knowledge more accessible, nonetheless many students feel that the learning is quite less compared to a classroom lessons. As a result, online courses are solving the symptoms of a problem (that accessibility to higher education should not depend on the student’s wealth), however, this is creating a segregation of two classes of students: the ones that can pay and so are eligible to face-to-face classes, and a second tier group which will just watch classes on YouTube.

SPeaker: What can you tell us about higher education in your home country? In particular, can you share one similarity and one difference from the system in the US?

Thraves: Higher education in Chile (my home country) is also expensive, and students debt is also an issue. We have numerous Universities that are literally like a for profit business. These institutions minimize costs as much as possible, they don’t spend on full time professors nor research, but just on marketing to capture students and classes (even better if they are online). Unfortunately information in these “markets” is very fuzzy. So plenty of people apply to these institutions receiving a low quality education while going into big debts which they hardly will be able to pay in future. One difference would be that Universities in Chile are more local, in the sense that they don’t have a mix of students of all over the country nor other countries as much as in the U.S.

SPeaker: Who would you recommend this movie to?

Thraves: People who like the education topic in general.

Room Review: Home sweet home with a sweetheart

By Stephanie Nam,

For this month’s room review SPeaker visited rather special roommates, Holly Johnsen and George Tucker living in a co-ed two-bedroom apartment. (If you did not know already, SP is running a pilot co-ed housing program, more details can be found on the SP website.) Holly and George have been active members of the community. Both have served on the house government for three consecutive years, including 2011-2012 when they served on SPEC together.  Additionally, George is still serving on Board of Trustees.

Clockwise (from top left) Holly at her desk, Holly's tea collection, Holly and George in their living room, Another view of the living room, dining room table.

Clockwise (from top left) Holly at her desk, Holly’s tea collection, Holly and George in their living room, Another view of the living room, dining room table.

Two highlights of this comfortable living room are the couches and the large TV, which is sometimes used to play video games. A unique feature of the living area is a desk facing the door, sweetly decorated with small animals and colorful articles so that it does not seem like an office desk. There is also a bookcase with Holly’s tea collection next to a dining table by the sunny window where one can see the carefully labelled and neatly stored large variety of teas as well as mugs, pots and tea cups.

Clockwise from left: Kitchen counter, spice rack, kitchen stand with George's soda maker, Holly's recipe book.

Clockwise from left: Kitchen counter, spice rack, kitchen stand with George’s soda maker, Holly’s recipe book.

In addition to her love for tea, Holly also likes to cook. This is immediately confirmed to first-time visitors by the large and sturdy cooking counter in the kitchen with a well-organized spice rack, and a small kitchen stand with some cooking magazines above which George keeps his soda maker machine. Every month she picks the recipes from the magazines that she wishes to try, and keeps them in her impressive hand-made recipe book, and on a blog: http://holly-cooks.blogspot.com/

Overall, it was a great pleasure talking to Holly and George, and seeing how a standard dorm room can be transformed to a sweet home for a loving couple. SPeaker would like to thank Holly and George again for taking time to share a part of their lives.

 

Sidney-Pacific Room Review: Indoor Garden

By Stephanie Nam,

SP Room Review is a new series exploring different rooms and lifestyles within the community. If you know of any awesome candidates, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Jenny Wang, at her desk.

Jenny Wang, at her desk.

For the second article of the room review series, we visited Jenny Wang. She is a third year student in Mechanical Engineering, and is one of the Brunch chairs at SP, serving about three hundred people every month. She is also known for her expertise in “growing living things,” so we decided to visit and see.

At first glance into her room, you’ll see a leaf-patterned curtain behind which Jenny keeps her plants and flowers in front of the large window. The plants are arranged on a storage rack, with a beautiful fuchsia hanging on a spring loaded drying rack. We also saw a recycled mini-greenhouse that was nurturing some seedlings. Next to her desk there was a special incubator for some mushrooms. In addition to these indoor plants, Jenny also grows some of her vegetables from SP community garden – if you need any advice for a plant, now you know who to turn to.

(CW from the top left) The mushroom incubator, the curtain covering the stand, the plant stand, the recycled greenhouse, and the hanging fuchsia.

(CW from the top left) The mushroom incubator, the curtain covering the stand, the plant stand, the recycled greenhouse, and the hanging fuchsia.

Having some fresh greenery in the bedroom can make it feel more like home. Another thing that can help improve the ambiance is lighting. In Jenny’s room, there are a number of different lamps, each with its own purpose. Plants like the white light, and so does Jenny for studying. For relaxed reading and resting, she has put some red cellophane over some lamps. The desk lamps are connected to a power strip so they can be conveniently turned on and off at the same time.

Jenny’s tea collection.

Jenny’s tea collection.

 

Overall, the furniture is arranged to separate the living, resting, and storage areas. The desk and the bookcase stand together, just like the wardrobe and the chest of drawers are placed next to each other. On the side of the wardrobe, just above the top of the dresser, SPeaker spotted Jenny’s collection of leaf tea. Jenny’s creative and space saving storage method is to store her tea in small metal tins, and stick them on magnets mounted on the side of her wardrobe. This makes it quick and easy to find what you’d like for tea time- if you can manage to choose from the many varieties of tea!

The visit to Jenny’s room reassured us that a dorm room can be quite homey, and you too can achieve that by bringing in some things you appreciate and enjoy. Thank you to Jenny for giving us a glimpse into her room and life!

Sidney-Pacific Room Review

By Stephanie Nam

The SPeaker is starting a new series exploring different rooms and lifestyles in the community. It is interesting and inspiring to see some of the creative wall decorations, furniture layouts, storage ideas as well as other hobby-related collections. This series is intended to share some of the coolest apartments with other SidPacians. If you are aware of awesome candidates for this series, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Lab-in-a-room, Matt and Mark’s apartment

The first visit of the SPeaker was to Matthew D’Asaro and Mark Chilenski. Matt and Mark are both in their 4th year at MIT, Matt in EECS and Mark in Nuclear Engineering. They agreed to be roommates on visit day, and they have been sharing an apartment in Sidney Pacific ever since they started at MIT. Why Sidney Pacific? When SPeaker asked, and Matt told us that SP had the maximum bedroom square footage/price ratio, and Mark added that he also like the ratio of living space/ bedroom in order to set up “the equipment” in their bedrooms.

Matt and the 3D printer.

Matt and the 3D printer.

Before going into each bedroom to see the equipment set up, you can’t fail to notice the huge 3D printer in their kitchen. Matt shared the story of how the giant machine made it to their kitchen; from an email alert on MIT-reuse mailing list to running up four floors of stairs to beat the group of people who took the elevator. They managed to clean the tubes and download the new software, and of course printed a block of “Hello World” in 3D. Unfortunately, the printer is not working at the moment due to some software issues. Maybe the 3D printer will be fixed for the next Open Doors Night?

Mark has set up a workstation in one side of his bedroom using a long side table from IKEA and a lab-like tool organizer drawer stands in the corner. The SPeaker was lucky enough to see the Geiger counter that Mark has designed and built himself, along with other vintage and modern Geiger counters. He also has a miniature robotic arm that was a birthday present from Matt. He connected it to a computer and wrote a python program to control it. Eventually, he hopes to be able to use the arm to paint pictures. There is also a collection of paints and delicate brushes for his hobby of painting little figurines. Additionally, Mark is also a drummer but for the sanity of his roommate he does not practice in the room.

(CW from the top right) Mark with the Geiger counter he designed and built, his work station, brushes for figurine coloring, The robot arm, and some wall decorations.

(CW from the top right) Mark with the Geiger counter he designed and built, his work station, brushes for figurine coloring, The robot arm, and some wall decorations.

Stepping into Matt’s bedroom, one would be surprised at the scene of so many measurement devices from oscilloscopes to a spectrum analyzer. Quoting a visitor at Open Doors Night, this is “a lab with a bed in it.” The IKEA table had to be reinforced with a thick metal column to withstand the weight of all of the instruments. Matt says studying electronics and doing projects outside of school have been very educational and helpful for his research. He is also a collector of vintage electronics, which he enjoys restoring to working order. Among the collection is a working example of one of the earliest television models, which is hooked up to an analog signal transmitter so it can be used to watch TV.

(CW from the top right) Matt’s set up of all instruments, a vintage electronics collection on top of the bookcase, a behind-the-door wire rack, another collection on the wardrobe, and the black and white analog television from 1949.

(CW from the top right) Matt’s set up of all instruments, a vintage electronics collection on top of the bookcase, a behind-the-door wire rack, another collection on the wardrobe, and the black and white analog television from 1949.

It was a great fun to talk to Matt and Mark, and to hear some stories of their collection. Their enthusiasm about their hobbies was quite inspiring too. Thank you to the M&M duo from the SPeaker!

Farewell, Our Beloved Housemasters!

Roger and Dottie at the cake cutting ceremony.  Courtesy of Steven Chang.

Roger and Dottie at the cake cutting ceremony. Courtesy of Danica Chang.

11 years. How long is 11 years? Do you remember where you were 11 years ago?

11 years ago, I just moved to South Africa with my family and started high school. English was a language that I had almost zero fluency in and coming to MIT for graduate school was something that I did not even remotely think of. But on the other side of the globe, a new graduate dormitory had just been built on the corner of Sidney and Pacific Streets in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since its establishment, Roger and Dottie Mark have been the Housemasters of Sidney-Pacific. They dedicated the next 11 years to SP, turning it from a residence hall into a graduate community. During these 11 years, they have met with thousands of graduate students coming from all over the world, attended hundreds of SP brunches and guided countless SP officers to build “the best graduate community in the world” as Roger called it. But just as in every gathering, there comes a time when we have to say farewell. After a decade of advising and caring, Roger and Dottie are stepping down from the Housemaster positions this summer.

On June 15, 2013, SP held a farewell party to celebrate Roger and Dottie’s contribution to our community in the past 11 years. Many SP alumni came back and shared their personal stories about Roger and Dottie. Their stories gave us a deeper understanding of Roger and Dottie’s personalities. Roger has always been the wisdom tree of SP. He is always willing to give invaluable advice to residents on how to handle both work and life situations.

Past and present SP residents gathered to celebrate Roger and Dottie’s contribution to the community.  Courtesy of Steven Chang.

Past and present SP residents gathered to celebrate Roger and Dottie’s contribution to the community. Courtesy of Danica Chang.

His practical personality also inspired past and present SPECs to run their meetings efficiently and have things done on time. On the other hand, Dottie has a gentle heart and always cares about our well-being. She makes sure that we are living a healthy life and always provides more than enough food during meetings. Together, they are like our grandparents. Their love, caring and passion to cultivate leaders have undoubtedly shaped our community. Because of them, SP is more than a building with rooms. Because of them, SP becomes our home away from home.

In the spirit of contribution and community building, the SP government has established the Roger and Dottie Mark Award for outstanding contributions to our community by a first year resident. This award will be presented annually at the nomination dinner. This year, the award went to Frank Wang. Frank has been actively participating or organizing SPICE meetings since he came to SP. In the spring semester, he became one of the web chairs and helped to improve the security of our website.

Ribbon cutting ceremony for the renaming of the MP room to Roger and Dorothy Mark Multipurpose Room.  Courtesy of Steven Chang.

Ribbon cutting ceremony for the renaming of the MP room to Roger and Dorothy Mark Multipurpose Room. Courtesy of Danica Chang.

The SP government also renamed the MP room as the Roger and Dorothy Mark Multipurpose Room in recognition of their exemplary services as Housemasters of the SP graduate community.  As the founding Housemasters, they created a vibrant community renowned for its welcoming atmosphere, outstanding residential life programs and strong tradition of student leadership. The Mark room will forever stand as a tribute to their legacy and inestimable impact on our community.

The evening ended with a standing ovation and toasts to Roger and Dottie. Farewell! We congratulate you as you move into the next chapter of your life and we thank you for all you have done for us in the past. Although Roger and Dottie are no longer living in SP, their legacy continues. Just as Roger has said, the SP community has built a strong momentum that our government will continue on its excellence as we move into a new era.

By Steven (Shiou-chi) Chang, VP of Information

Where Are They Now? News from Sidney-Pacific Alumni

AmyAndreas_SolarCar

Amy Bilton and her husband Andreas on their wedding day, posing next to the University of Toronto solar car “Cerulean”.

Ever wonder what your fellow residents have been up to since MIT?  Well, now is your chance to catch up!  Whether moving across the globe or just down the street, making films or computer apps, teaching engineering or learning circus arts, we think you’ll agree that Sidney-Pacific alumni have been leading fascinating lives.

Compiled and edited by: Chelsea He

  • Amy Bilton (PhD ’13, Course 16) had a busy fall.  She defended her PhD in September, got married to her long-time boyfriend Andreas in October, and spent most of November on her honeymoon in Southeast Asia.  She is currently a postdoc at MIT and is searching for academic jobs.
  • Timothy Chan (PhD ’07, Operations Research) and Laura Cham (SM ’05, Transportation) met at a dance party at SP and were members of SPEC in 2004-2005.  After getting engaged on 07/07/07, they married on 08/08/08 and currently live in Toronto, Canada, where he is a professor and she is a transportation planner.  They are living proof that being on SPEC has benefits beyond Dottie’s cooking.
TimSriramLaura_Small

Timothy Chan (left) and Laura Cham (right) attend SP’s 10th Anniversary Reunion Gala Dinner on June 30, 2012 along with Sriram Krishnan (Photo credit: Po-Ru Loh).

  • Allison Chang (PhD ’12, Operations Research) spent the summer after graduation doing a mix of research and traveling. She also moved out of SP after five glorious years in 3-South, and in September started as a new member of the research staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. She still lives near Central Square, and enjoys being a part of many of the same communities (ballroom dance, musical theatre, church) as before.
  • After taking a two-year post-PhD detour that involved work at a pharmaceutical company, a non-profit hospital, and a startup, Leonid Chindelevitch (PhD ’10, Applied Math) decided to return to academia in September and started a position as a postdoctoral fellow at the university down the road’s School of Public Health. He also tried the role of a street musician earlier this summer, playing classical guitar in some public areas in Boston and Cambridge. Lastly, he just launched a blog, mathophilia.com, where he discusses the role of mathematics and mathematicians in our society.
  • Lillian Dai (PhD ’08, Course 6) has a 1.5 year old who is starting to put sentences together, and a 3.5 year old who wastes no time in exerting her influence on her sister’s first few sentences. In an interest to keep her kids bilingual, she and a few friends got together to build a second-language learning app for young kids. Her first Kickstarter campaign for the app was just recently launched. Come by and take a look!
  • Chuck Eesley (PhD ’09, Course 15) has been enjoying all that the Bay Area has to offer after being hired as a faculty member three years ago in the Stanford School of Engineering, teaching technology entrepreneurship.
  • Andrea Gabert, Esq. (PhD ’07, Chemistry) passed the Massachusetts Bar Exam and will continue to work at Wolf Greenfield in Boston as a patent attorney. Her husband, Daryush Mehta (SM ’06, EECS and PhD ’10, HST), continues to work as a research scientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center to better understand why some people develop voice disorders while others do not. Soon they hope to say, “We have an app for that!” Andrea and Daryush send their best wishes to the entire SP family!
  • Marc Haddad (PhD ’08, Technology Management and Policy) joined the School of Industrial Engineering at the Lebanese American University (LAU) as Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering and Management.
  • Qiang Han (MBA ’09, Course 15) spent 2 years living at SP, first in 441A, then in 712 and as one of the officers.  His girlfriend was a classmate and fellow SP alum, having lived in 537B during her first year at Sloan.  They fell in love during their first month in SP, and after five years, got married this past summer! They know at least 6 other Sloan classmates (3 couples) in the Class of ’09 who stayed at SP while at MIT and eventually got married to one another.  SP provides a place not only of warmth and care, but of romance as well!
  • After graduating from MIT, Sriram Krishnan (PhD ’07, Course 2) headed to the windy city of Chicago for a couple of years. In 2009, he got married to Sowmya Balasubramanian, then moved to San Antonio for a couple more years before landing back in Boston. He is currently a market analyst and strategy consultant focused on the solar industry. On a personal note, Sriram and Sowmya are thrilled to be welcoming their first child in January 2013.
  • George Lan (SM ’12, Course 15) recently started working at Elsevier in their global academic relations division.  In his free time, he enjoys plotting (not-so) secret SP reunions (#SPAlums_NYC).  The things he misses most about SP are: 1) the crazy, exciting bustle of preparing monthly brunches, 2) the creative, culinary creations of House Cup food-related events, 3) a free gym inside the building, and 4) Dottie’s homemade carrot cake.
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Jeff Mo on the waterfront  in Portsmouth, England.

  • Joseph Laracy (SM ’07, Engineering Systems) received the STB degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in June 2012, and was ordained to the transitional diaconate by Archbishop John J. Myers at the altar of the chair in St. Peter’s Basilica on October 4, 2012.  He will be ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey on May 25, 2013.
  • After leaving MIT in August 2011, Jeff Mo (SM ’10, Course 10) headed to Paris, France for an internship at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  After spending six months there studying the fiscal impact of immigration and eating a pastry every afternoon, he went backpacking around China for three months before moving to London, UK for a second master’s degree in Economics at the London School of Economics.  Let him know if you’re in town!
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Arthur Musah in action in Lagos, Nigeria on August 19, 2012.

  • Arthur Musah (SB ’04, MEng ’05, Course 6-2) went back to school in 2009 to study filmmaking in Los Angeles. He is now back in Cambridge making his first feature length film, a coming of age documentary about 5 African youths on a quest for knowledge at MIT. Shot over 4 years as their lives meander between North America and Africa, the film is chronicling how they discover engineering, the world and their adult selves. Arthur is keeping a production blog about making this film on the website www.onedayitoogofly.com. He hopes you check it out and send him your thoughts on your own life and times at the Institute as he attempts to capture the essence of the MIT undergrad experience.  Additionally, you can read an interview with Arthur recently published in The Tech.
  • After finishing at MIT, Robin Stewart (SM ’08, Course 6) moved to Seattle and developed Mac and iPad apps for several years. He now works for Tableau Software, designing and prototyping ideas for their suite of data visualization products.  In his spare time he’s learning aerial circus arts!
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Chia-Hung Wu shows his MIT pride in Pasadena.

  • Chia-Hung Wu (PhD ’09, Chemistry) is currently doing a postdoc in the “division” of Biology at “the other Institute of Technology.”  Proud to be an MIT beaver, he likes to wear his MIT hat and sometimes gets peculiar looks from people on campus.  One day, while waiting in a line for a free food tasting (a postdoc is just 1.5 graduate student) at a festival hosted by a local business, a guy behind him tapped his shoulder and kindly reminded him that it could be dangerous to walk around Pasadena wearing an MIT hat.  The conversation drew some laughs in the crowd, probably from some other beavers.  Despite the warning, he still proudly wears his MIT hat around.

Like what you see?  We invite you to add your story to the next issue by emailing: sp-alumni-news [at] mit [dot] edu

House Cup: A look into the cavernous depths of George Chen

George Chen, SP Inter-Hall Event Coordinator

I remember the first time I spoke with George Chen (who I will hereafter refer to as GChen because I haven’t tested G-Chizzle on him yet) I couldn’t help but wonder about the whirling gears and flittering minutiae which surely steamed his mind’s engine with endless energy and unknowable outlandishness. Here was a man who clearly saw the world differently and, for what it’s worth, knew how to squeeze every drop of comedy out of even the driest of topics. Clearly now, I can remember myself wondering what a world crafted by GChen would look like. Would it be farcical jest or bitingly satirical?

I also remember thinking “What the hell is he doing with that knife?”

All these thoughts… all during brunch volunteering. Shameless plug – deal with it.

Anyway… When it came time to appoint a House Cup Coordinator, I had no hesitation in tapping GChen for the role. Here was a man of creative disposition and the House Cup contest, now on its fourth year, was ripe for reinvention. Thanks to the brilliant stewardship of past Chairs of the Halls and Interhall Coordinators, the House Cup had grown from a nascent success to a full-fledged institution. Now, however, was time for an evolution… no a revolution.

The SP Photo Scavenger Hunt achieved a number of firsts

As if Greek Aeolus and GChen were in cahoots, a great wind filled the wrinkled sail of his cavernous brain and produced what many would argue was one of the most creative and successful opening House Cup events in history: the SP Photo Scavenger Hunt. Besides raking in some serious bucks via a grant from Residential Life Programs, the event itself achieved a number of firsts. Namely, residents were asked to run around campus answering cryptic clues by taking photographs of MIT idiosyncrasies and well-hidden resources. With over 40 participants returning completely drenched in sweat and dining over thousands of pieces of sushi, the event was a grand success. At the very least, I can think of no time we’ve made SP residents rock their bodies as hard as George’s photo-physio-phrenzy.

Moving along, GChen turned his bow towards a number of other noteworthy events. In addition to a chaotic yet popular Pizza competition and a unique collaboration with the Arts Chair to put on a Hall Art Showdown, George also managed to coordinate what was likely SP’s (and perhaps any group at MIT’s) largest donation drive in history. During the November canned food drive George buoyed our incredible string of hall councilors together to rope in a total of 1,967 pounds of nonperishable food. Do you have any idea how much food that is? That’s over 2,500 meals for the homeless. Massive props to the Hall Councilor Team and of course to GChen for wowing the Greater Boston Food Bank with more cans than their pick-up truck could handle.

The Novermber Food Drive raised a total of 1,967 pounds of food!

Now… most people at this point would sit back in their comfy SP wooden chairs and rest upon the laurels of their contribution. Not GChen. Although I’d love to divulge the twisted creations he’s got in store for the House in the Spring half of the House Cup, I’d much rather save him the pleasure of gradual revelation. If not so that we can view the reactions of our hall councilor family then simply because I love watching the man’s poker face gradually give way to his intelligent, wry smile.

Sadly, many simpletons out there might dismiss my appreciation of George’s work as mere bromance. To these deprived souls I would offer but one challenge: map his actions back onto the depths of his mind and tell me, and tell me true…

…wouldn’t you have been scared cutting mangoes next to this man at brunch?

By Brian Spatocco, SP Chair of the Halls

Giving Back to Many Communities: The Secret Lives of Roland Tang

By night, Roland Tang is one-quarter of the amazing housemaster team at SP. You’ve probably seen him at various SP events with his wife, Annette, and their two adorable kids, Joshua and Samuel. As one of the housemasters, Roland helps build community at SP by organizing events (such as the Thanksgiving dinner, or Finals’ Breakfast), supporting the SP leadership team, and providing a general source of support (academic, personal, mediation, etc.) for residents.

Most residents see Roland only in his capacity as a housemaster and his commitment to serve the SP community. Yet, by day (and depending on the day), Roland wears a different but analogous hat. Roland works as a pediatrician for the South Cove Community Health Center (SCCHC), which serves over 25,000 underserved Asian children and families in the greater Boston area. In addition to seeing clinical patients, Roland spends half of his time at the SCCHC in outreach and community work – he teaches weekly nutritional health sessions at a local elementary school, and he administers the Reach Out and Read program that provides families with free books and tips to improve early childhood literacy.

ABCD presents Dr. Roland Tang with his award. (Source: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs017/1102336366115/archive/1107905859912.html)

Beyond his work at the SCCHC, though, Roland further gives back to the community through his involvement in the Chinese Church Head Start program. Head Start is a US government-funded program that partners with and funds local organizations to help improve health and childhood development outcomes for low-income families. The Chinese Church program faces special challenges in reaching out to a largely underserved, immigrant population, one that faces language and cultural understanding barriers to navigating the American medical system. Since 2003, Roland has been an active volunteer for Chinese Church, from running parent health education sessions to training staff. He currently is a member of Head Start Health Advisory Committee.

For all of these efforts, this past October, Roland was honored by Boston’s ABCD (Action for Boston Community Development) as one of its “Community Heroes of the Year.” So, if you see Roland around, please thank and congratulate him.

By George Lan, SP President