Madison Lee, an outstanding young Asian American leader, will be graduating from UCLA with a bachelor's degree next month. To achieve her career goal of becoming a high school mathematics teacher, she will be attending Stanford's Graduate School of Education. Madison's journey with SCCCA (South Coast Chinese Cultural Association) began in high school when she started volunteering in community programs at the Irvine Chinese School
Madison has always dreamt of working at a school, and that dream finally came true in the summer of 2021 when she became the coordinator of the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center's Summer Camp. Here, she created a safe environment for children, handled various emergencies, managed high school volunteers, and assisted teachers with coordinating various courses. Through this job and experience, Madison gradually developed into an outstanding Asian American youth with leadership skills, laying a solid foundation for her future career as a teacher.
During her three summers at the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center and Irvine Chinese School, Madison witnessed the students grow up and forge many friendships. She also received praise from parents, teachers, and leaders, which encouraged her to strive to become a better educator. Of course, Madison faced challenges and difficulties during her work. One notable challenge was persuading some of the new high school volunteers to listen to her because they assumed she was inexperienced. Faced with such challenges, Madison would explain her thought processes so that volunteers could understand, respect, and learn from her decisions.
Madison led a number of high school student volunteers from 2021 to 2023, assisting teachers in teaching, and gradually grew into an outstanding Asian American youth.
Madison 在2021~2023帶領了多位高中生義工，協助老師教學，逐漸成長為一位優秀的亞裔美國青年
In Asian culture, education is highly valued. As a result, Madison believes teachers are sacred professionals who can help children embark on the right path and reach the peaks of life. With this goal in mind, Madison combines the theoretical knowledge she learned at UCLA with her work at the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center. As a young Asian American hoping to become a teacher, she feels a great sense of purpose. Madison mentioned that many people have preconceptions about Asians due to the Model Minority Myth, expecting them to be polite, smart, and excellent in everything. Therefore, Asian struggles are often overlooked and misunderstood by others . Madison hopes to break these biases in the future when she becomes a teacher by bringing Asian American representation into the classroom and creating an inclusive environment for all identities.
Madison Lee 專訪：教育界的未來新星
Madison Lee，一位傑出的年輕亞裔美國領袖，她將於下個月從加州大學洛杉磯分校獲得學士學位畢業。為了實現成為高中數學教師的職業目標，她將前往斯坦福大學教育研究生院繼續深造。Madison 與 SCCCA（南海岸華人文化中心）的旅程始於她的高中時代，當時她開始在爾灣中文學校的社區項目中做志願者。
Madison 一直夢想著在學校工作，這個夢想終於在 2021 年的夏天實現，當時她成為了南海岸華文化中心夏令營的協調員。在這裡，她為孩子們創造了安全的環境，處理各種緊急情況，管理高中志願者，並協助老師協調各種課程。通過這份工作和經歷，Madison 逐漸成長為一個具有領導才能的傑出亞裔美國青年，為她未來作為一名教師打下了堅實的基礎。
在南海岸華文化中心和爾灣中文學校度過的這三個夏天裡，Madison 見證了學生們的成長，並結交了許多朋友。她還收到了家長、老師和領導的許多讚揚，這使她更加努力地想成為一名優秀的教育工作者。當然，在工作中，Madison 也面臨著挑戰和困難。一個顯著的挑戰就是說服一些新的高中志願者聽她的話，因為這些高中志願者認為她的經驗不足。面對這樣的挑戰，Madison 會解釋她的想法，以便志願者能理解、尊重並從她的決定中學習和成長。
At the end of the summer camp, Madison took a photo with all the high school volunteers
夏令營尾聲，Madison與所有高中生義工合照
在亞洲文化中，教育受到高度重視。因此，Madison 認為教師是能夠幫助孩子們走上正確道路並達到人生巔峰的神聖職業。懷著這個目標，Madison 將在 UCLA 學到的理論知識與她在南海岸華文化中心的工作相結合。作為一名年輕的亞裔美國人，她希望成為一名教師，因此她具有極大的使命感。Madison 提到，由於「模範少數族裔」觀念的存在，許多人對亞裔有先入為主的看法，期望他們彬彬有禮、聰明且在各方面都表現出色。因此，亞裔的需求和困難往往被他人忽視和誤解。Madison 希望在未來成為一名教師時，通過在課堂上呈現亞裔美國人的形象，並通過她特有的身份創造一個包容的環境，來打破這些偏見。