tafjrs2008

About The TAF Jrs 2008

2008-07-23T23:03:00.001-07:00

UPDATE : Curious Junior 2008 PICTURES ARE NOW UP!
PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK IN THE SIDE PANEL!

About the TAF Juniors 2008
Welcome Juniors, parents, families, and friends.

This TAF2008 Website is designed to let you know exactly what is going on within our Juniors Program. Throughout this week, we will updating this website with pictures and updates. Be sure to check back for more information!

Without further ado-- this year's theme: Identity ~ "I am"

About the Junior Program...
Program Directors: Liz Wang, Cindy Lee

The TAF Juniors are the youngest campers here in age, and the most valuable assets, for they represent our Taiwanese community's hopes and dreams. In every sense of the word, they are the Foundation from which our proud community has flourished and the source of our current and future leaders. Our theme this year is identity, where we will encourage our children to explore how their culture and experiences shape how they see themselves, who they are, and who they want to be.

We believe in the potential of every child and we see that it is our job to bring out that potential to light. We hope to empower our campers to explore the uniqueness of their identities, to recognize their ability to affect change, and to value the gifts that they possess. We do this through intentional involvement with the kids—whether it's through small group discussions, workshops, bedtime stories, or free time, we train our counselors to be pro-active in caring for the development of every camper that walks through our door. How the juniors program differs from the others is that it takes on a different form of interpersonal relationship with the campers. Our staff is trained to not just listen to the words that children are saying, but to understand the story behind their words. Along with their counselors and peers, juniors are able to communicate their thoughts, explore their significance, acknowledge their uniqueness, and express their individual and communal identity.

Most of all, TAF Juniors is a place to be yourself and to know that being a Taiwanese-American kid rocks!

Activities

2008-07-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

1. Building a Kite- How can you build a kite to make it fly the highest?
2. I wanna be like Mike - Taiwanese Games with Mike!
3. TAF 2008 Scavenger Hunt - Want to be a Junior Detective?
4. Taiwanese Treats at its Finest - Hands on!
5. Junior Survey - What makes me who I am?
7. Lets make ice cream – See the science behind the dessert!
8. Icebreakers - Meet the Juniors
10. Movie Night - What's your favorite movie?
11. Swing Choir - So you think you can dance hosted by Karen Lin
12. Pajama Party - Night time fun + some special guests!
13. Choir - I wanna be TAF Idol!
14. Capture the Flag... with water? - eXtreme Sports held with the College Program
15. TAF Family Feud - Show us what you may or may not got.
16. Water Balloon Fight - we are love and peace, until you get the hose.

Lessons

2008-07-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

We will be exploring these concepts throughout the week, in many shapes and forms. Our goal is to try to think about these abstract ideas in a way that the kids will understand and sympathize with.

What is my identity?
What kinds of things identity me as a person? What are the things other people identify me as?
What are the things I identify in other people?
What kinds of communities do I identity with and what are the reasons?
How does my identity (both my community identity and my self identity) help me obtain the goals that I want to reach?

A Word To Our Juniors

2008-07-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Juniors! I hope you guys are all excited about summer vacation and most importantly.. TAF! We have very exciting activities planned like exploring more of taiwanese culture, and activities dealing with this year's theme - identity! And of course, all of us counselors can't wait to run around, play games, eat snacks, and read stories with you all. Hopefully, we won't be doing all those things at the same time. Also, there may be a very exciting project that has something to do with flying things... :) We'll tell you about that when you get there! See you guys soon!
-Cindy & Liz

Meet the sTAFf

2008-06-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

Liz Wang
Curious Program Director
Liz works with non-profit organizations at a fundraising company called OneCause. She's 22 going on 23, which is a prime number and she likes prime numbers. She also rides her bike a whole lot, plays in heavy rain, belays little kiddies up 60 foot walls, and bakes cookies and cupcakes. She's been to TAF a whole lotta years and loves being curious.

Cindy Lee
Curious Program Director
Cindy currently lives in California and it is her fourth year as a TAF Juniors Counselor, and her second year as PD. She is excited about the program, and the many learning opportunities that the Juniors and Staff will be able to share throughout the week. There is also a rumor that Cindy has the most widespread pokémon collection known to mankind, but that is still unproven. Although she will not bring out her fantastic pokemon skills at camp, she welcomes anyone who would like to challenge her, just e-mail her! When she's not letting her brain rot while playing video games, she also strongly advocates eating vegetables so that your insides don't rot! In her spare time, Cindy loves to read (Twilight!), play video games (Nintendo Wii!), chat online (with campers), and travel long distances to be part of the Taiwanese American Foundation! Juniors Rule!

Gill Chieu,
Staff Extraordinaire
Gill is currently working and living in Chambana, IL. Most campers refer to him as Mr. Fish since his name is Gill, just like the gills on a fish. He has came to TAF for many years, but took a break for a year or two. He is excited in making his come back year in the Juniors Program. Back at home, for the past 5 years during the school year, he has been working at Champaign Early Childhood Center (public preK program for at risk families.) During the summers he helps out with his church's summer school program (a 5 week program, teaching preK as well.)

Eryn Hong,
Staff Extraordinaire
Eryn is from Farmington Hills, MI. She will be a freshman at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in the fall, hopefully studying political science and Chinese. It is her sixth year at TAF, and since she had such an awesome first year as a Juniors Counselor in 2007, she just had to come back! In her spare time, she enjoys playing piano, singing, playing with her adorable Pomeranian, going out with friends, or teaching people how to do a Rubik's cube.

Jeanette Chin,
Staff Extraordinaire

Karen Lin,
Staff Extraordinaire

Connie Jeng,
Staff Extraordinaire

Mark Chen,
Staff Extraordinaire
Mark Chen is going to be a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, he's studying accounting and hopes to stick with it for awhile. This will be his first year at TAF and looks forward to teaching chinese yoyo. In my freetime (if we get any) he'll probably be raving, listening to techno, or flossing. One day he'll do all three at the same time.

Emmeline Kuo,
Staff Extraordinaire

Julia Tao,
Staff Extraordinaire

About the TAF Juniors 2008

2008-06-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome Juniors, parents, families, and friends.

This TAF2008 Website is designed to let you know exactly what is going on within our Juniors Program. Throughout this week, we will updating this website with pictures and updates. Be sure to check back for more information!

Without further ado-- this year's theme: Identity ~ "I am"

About the Junior Program...
Program Directors: Liz Wang, Cindy Lee

The TAF Juniors are the youngest campers here in age, and the most valuable assets, for they represent our Taiwanese community's hopes and dreams. In every sense of the word, they are the Foundation from which our proud community has flourished and the source of our current and future leaders. Our theme this year is identity, where we will encourage our children to explore how their culture and experiences shape how they see themselves, who they are, and who they want to be.

We believe in the potential of every child and we see that it is our job to bring out that potential to light. We hope to empower our campers to explore the uniqueness of their identities, to recognize their ability to affect change, and to value the gifts that they possess. We do this through intentional involvement with the kids—whether it's through small group discussions, workshops, bedtime stories, or free time, we train our counselors to be pro-active in caring for the development of every camper that walks through our door. How the juniors program differs from the others is that it takes on a different form of interpersonal relationship with the campers. Our staff is trained to not just listen to the words that children are saying, but to understand the story behind their words. Along with their counselors and peers, juniors are able to communicate their thoughts, explore their significance, acknowledge their uniqueness, and express their individual and communal identity.

Most of all, TAF Juniors is a place to be yourself and to know that being a Taiwanese-American kid rocks!

TAF is year round!

2007-08-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Juniors and Parents,

On behalf of the entire Junior sTAFf, we want to thank you all for coming out for TAF2007! It was an amazing week, filled with:

amazing discussion (remember our keys for successful servant leadership! recognizing differences, problem solving, taking responsibility, and selflessness!)
fun with puzzles (and discovering that Taiwan was actually in a shape of a parallelogram)
gingerbread Taipei 101 building (without the crazy 37.5mph elevator)
fun with taiwanese foods (mm, watermelon seeds and tea minus the tea)
dancing (oh yes, we know you're still doing the swing choir dance.. with glowsticks??)
much more! and of course just hanging out and being silly all the time!

I know we'll cherish these moments forever, but just remember!

The TAF fun doesn't just end with TAF week!!

Throughout the year, we would love to continue hearing from you and would appreciate all the letters! So check out the "Meet the STAFF" page for your counselor's emails! Also, some of us may be organizing mini-regional reunions throughout the year, and you're also free to host them yourselves as well! This webpage will be at your disposal for any TAF Juniors related things! Please e-mail Cindy if you want anything posted!

With that: our first Michigan mini-reunion has already been posted! Please check here for pictures! Keep the TAF love year round! :)

Love,
your Juniors sTAFf! (tafjuniors@gmail.com)

About TAF Juniors 2007

2007-08-04T00:56:00.000-07:00

Our pictures are now available! Please check the links on the right!

Welcome Juniors, parents, families, and friends.

This TAF2007 Website is designed to let you know exactly what is going on within our Juniors Program. We look forward to seeing all of you and check back throughout the week for updates!

This years's theme is Leadership- with a SMILE :)

About the Junior Program...
Program Directors: Carrie Lin, Cindy Lee

The TAF Juniors are the youngest campers here in age, and the most valuable assets, for the represent our Taiwanese community's hopes and dreams. In every sense of the word, they are the Foundation from which our proud community has flourished and the source of our current and future leaders. Our theme this year is Leadership with a Smile, meaning we will be trying to convey a sense of what servant leadership means in our every day lives and the impact in can make in our communities.

We believe in the potential of every child and we see that it is our job to bring out that potential to light. We hope to empower our campers to explore the uniqueness of their identities, to recognize their ability to affect change, and to value the gifts that they possess. We do this through intentional involvement with the kids—whether it's through small group discussions, workshops, bedtime stories, or free time, we train our counselors to be pro-active in caring for the development of every camper that walks through our door. How the juniors program differs from the others is that it takes on a different form of interpersonal relationship with the campers. Because the content of program in itself is limiting, we are unable to go very deep into a topic through group discussions. However, we compensate this loophole through deliberate conversations and attentive ears. The activities that we plan for the kids are great, but that is neither our focus nor our way of accomplishing our goal. Direct contact is our method, meaning, we train ourselves to have purposeful conversations and interactions with the kids that would impact each camper and produce fruitful results.

-be respected and learn what it means to respect others
-recognize something special about themselves
-understand the impact they have on our communities
-to feel complete self-worth, self-esteem and self-confidence
-to find pride in their unique cultural background(s)
-to love and be loved unconditionally

Following on the theme of Servant Leadership, as counselors, we will try our best to serve our campers so that they receive the compassion and interest they deserve. Throughout our lessons, and the rest of the week, we hope to incorporate these kinds of positive encouragement in the child's every day life.

The Junior Program is for children in grades 1-5. Occasionally, the Program Directors will use their best judgment to determine if a child should spend one more year in the Junior program or move ahead into Junior High, and this can be discussed with parents.

Meet Our Staff!

2007-08-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

Cindy Lee: Program Director
Cindy is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz in the field of Bioinformatics. It is her third year as a TAF Juniors Counselor, and her very first year as PD. She is excited about the program, and the many learning opportunities that the Juniors and Staff will be able to share throughout the week. There is also a wide-spread rumor that Cindy has the most widespread pokémon collection known to mankind, but that is still unproven. Although she will not bring out her fantastic pokemon skills at camp, she welcomes anyone who would like to challenge her, just e-mail her! When she's not letting her brain rot while playing video games, she also strongly advocates eating vegetables so that your insides don't rot! This is sometimes difficult, because she is known for having a soft side from slurpees and hot dogs. In her spare time, Cindy loves to read (Harry Potter!), play video games (Nintendo Wii!), chat online (with campers), and travel long distances to be part of the Taiwanese American Foundation! Juniors Rule!

Carrie Lin: Program Director
Carrie is a senior at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) majoring in English. This is her third year as the Juniors Program Program Director and her Fifteenth year at Taf. She has participated the juniors program for eight years and is looking forward for yet another challenging and exciting year. Besides Taf, she has experience in: church youth ministry, church worship band, orchestra, and tutoring (both at the grade school and college level). She enjoys to eat, sleep, sing, dance, and play lots and lots of tennis.

Eryn Hong: Staff Extraordinaire
Eryn is from Farmington Hills, MI, and will be a senior at North Farmington High School in the fall. This will be her fifth year at TAF and first year as a junior counselor. Outside of TAF, she babysits and tutors grade school kids. She also works as a part-time waitress at her parents’ restaurant in Redford, MI. In her spare time, she enjoys playing piano, singing, and playing Wii.

Tyler Fong: Staff Extraordinaire
Tyler is a UC Santa Cruz graduate with a BA in Sociology. After completing college in 2005, Tyler actually used his degree to land a job as a social worker, working for a non-profit organization, HOPE Services, that assists adults with developmental disabilities and helps them become integral members of their respective communities. Tyler spent almost 3 years with HOPE services (he started working for the agency while still in college) and recently resigned from the agency because he is planning to go back to school to obtain an M.Arch for Architecture. Tyler hopes to one day design a parking structure that isn't confusing! As for TAF, this is Tyler's 1st year as a JC and is excited about meeting all of the campers. On his free time, Tyler enjoys playing sports (any kind), listening to music, playing with his dog, and spending money on the newest gadget out (no iPhone yet).

Sherry Lin: Staff Extraordinaire
Sherry Lin is going to be a senior at Downers Grove South High School. This is her second year as a junior counselor and her thirteenth year at TAF. She takes great pleasure in sleeping, dancing, eating, and cooking the perfect Ribeye steaks for her parents. She is very involved in school functions and church activities and is part of her youth group's servant leadership team. This summer, She has been helping out at her family's Chinese Carry-out restaurant and has spent twice the amount of time playing tennis outside than sleeping in her bed. Aslo, she enjoys playing ultimate frisbee and/or any sport besides golf along with looking out for the best sales on fruits and vegetables so she can go grocery shopping!

Elizabeth Wang: Staff Extraordinaire
Elizabeth Wang just graduated from Wellesley College on June 1, 2007 with a BA in Mathematics and French. She is currently working in a field completely unrelated to either of the two, and hopes to eventually stray even farther with Public Health. She has been attending TAF since 1996 and is so excited to be back in the Junior program for the first time since her first year! She actually met her long lost twin at TAF. She enjoys rock climbing, cooking, baking, singing, and dreaming about coffeeshops.

Chris Jan: Staff Extraordinaire
Chris is going to be a senior at North Farmington High School. He attended TAF youth program for one year, and loved it so came back as a counselor. He loves sports, especially tennis, and he teaches tennis at the local tennis club and is the captain of the tennis team at his high school. He enjoys being with friends and is looking forward to having a great time.

John Lin: Staff Extraordinaire
John is a second year medical student at the Ohio State University School of Medicine. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He has been a counselor for Taiwanese American Youth Leadership (TAYL) Camp in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past seven years, and was a TAYL camper for three years. This is his first year as a TAF Juniors Program counselor and is looking forward to an awesome experience bonding with fellow Taiwanese Americans in the Midwest. John enjoys traveling, eating, cooking, sleeping, and playing various sports.

Calson Lee: Staff Extraordinaire
Calson is a 3rd-year student at University of California Irvine majoring in Computer Engineering and Philosophy. This will be his first year as a TAF Junior Counselor. He is looking forward to TAF2007. In his free time he plays Tennis and Ping Pong. Calson always enjoys reading comics, as it is his source of studying Mandarin, he also loves to karaoke for the same reason.

A word to our juniors...

2007-08-04T00:32:00.001-07:00

Hey Juniors! I hope you guys are all excited about summer vacation and most importantly.. TAF! We have very exciting activities planned like exploring more of taiwanese culture, and activities dealing with this year's theme - leadership. And of course, all of us counselors can't wait to run around, play games, eat snacks, and read stories with you all. Hopefully, we won't be doing all those things at the same time. Also, there may be a very exciting project that has something to do with pies... :) We'll tell you about that when you get there! See you guys soon!
-Carrie and Cindy

Lessons

2007-08-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

What is servant leadership?
What is the difference between a leader and a servant leader, if there is one
Recognizing Differences and Challenging Concepts
Listening and Compromise
Taking Responsibility For Your Actions
Servant Leadership In Our Junior Lives

We will be exploring these concepts throughout the week through our discovering-leadership expedition!

Activities:

2007-08-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

1. Build a Pie Launcher - How can you make a pie fly the fastest?
2. Taipei101 Gingerbread House - Erynhide's building at it's finest
3. TAF 2007 Scavenger Hunt - Want to be a Junior Detective?
4. Iron Chef Sherry Lin presents Taiwanese Treats at its Finest!
5. Junior Survey - What does it mean to be a Leader?
6. "Meet the Junior Counselors" Questionnaire
7. Skits – A surprise with some Taiwanese thrown in.
8. Icebreakers - Meet the Juniors
9. Swimming Pool - Junior-bots meets the water
10. Movie Night - What's your favorite movie?
11. Swing Choir - So you think you can dance hosted by Sherry Lin
12. Pajama Party - Night time fun + some special guests!
13. Choir - I wanna be TAF Idol!
14. I wanna be like Mike - eXtreme Sports brought to you by Tyler Fong!
15. Sib Sync - Show us what you may or may not got.
16. Water Balloon Fight - we are love and peace, until we you get the hose.