Student Faculty Dinner 2007 and 2008

The Youth Hope Student Faculty Dinner normally takes place in early November, its purpose is to foster significant and long-standing student-faculty relations and to bring student and staff from the University into an environment outside of the normal classroom setting.

During the first year of this event (Fall 2007), the dinner brought in a total of around 150 students and 50 professors. Hosted by Youth Hope's founders Mei Ling Liu, Yilin Zhang and Gabriel Thurin, it featured the keynote speaker Dr. Lu from Golden Courage International. Dr Lu spoke of his personal involvement with children affected by AIDS in China. Student organizations such as SEVHA and PALMA were also invited to set up information booths around the ballroom.

While the guests were eating, the ballroom was shaken up by the energetic beat of the Bhangra team, filled with the sweet melodies of the A Capella Group Gimble and echoed with the haunting strains of the Jazz band Quartex. Many thanks to the amazing performers that gave up their time to make the evening more memorable.

Given the success of the event, the dinner was held again in November of 2008. It brought together 125 students and 40 professors. The night was MC-ed by president Judy Yeh and featured vice president Christina Choong, who gave a personal speech on her take of the YHO service trip to Anhui, China in the summer of 2008. To encourage other service groups to share their experiences, the director of Quito Project, Andrea Yancon was invited to give a speech on her group's efforts to provide medical assistance for the people of Quito, Ecuador.

Tables with the mix of students and faculty were also given situations that volunteers often face such as discrimination and racism and were given prompts to facilitate discussions with the groups.

The night finished off with dazzling performances from Sinaboro, Cadence, and Compulsive Lyres.

Thanks must be given to Susan Wilson who has been invaluable to the development of Youth Hope.

Special Thanks to:
 
English Language Institute, Center for Chinese Studies, The Deans Office, Office of Multi Cultural Affairs, and OAMI