Building Bridges Cookout

by Allen Zhang, 2010 APAICS Intern

My summer with APAICS has not only been an educational and inspirational experience, it has been a fun one as well.  We have had opportunities to meet and talk with various leaders in the Asian Pacific American community, attend conferences and also to meet our counterparts with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) interns.  Over the course of the summer, we really got to know each other, and there was no better way to cement our budding friendships than a toasty barbecue.

It wasn’t just the barbecue that was toasty—July 24 started hot and only got hotter.  While the CHCI interns headed to Hain’s point from Silver Spring, the CBCF and APAICS crowd met up in DC before taking a shuttle over.  We expected to have some quality time on the way there; what we didn’t expect was an hour’s worth of it!  Unfortunately, the shuttle got lost, leaving us to think of creative ways to stay cool whilst waiting.  Some went into the nearby hospital, some went to buy Slurpies around the corner, and the rest of us mingled in the shade.

Once we got to the BBQ, we were ready to chow down.  A delicious feast of burgers and hot dogs and wings and condiments (yes, ketchup is very tasty) awaited us, and we heartily dug in.

But of course, being the health conscious students that we were, we couldn’t stand just sitting around.  Despite the heat, we broke out the rackets and balls, and got down to business.  Serious business.

Well, you know what they say, it’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.  Just kidding, nobody got hurt.  But all good things come to an end, and after our exertions in the 110 degrees weather, the air conditioned shuttle was an extremely welcome sight.

Summer in DC has been incredible—though I grew up in the area, I have never experienced DC like I did this summer with APAICS.  The people we met, the events we attended, and everything we learned has been indescribably exciting and highly educational.  And a great deal of fun, too.

Allen Zhang is a 2010 APAICS Summer Intern in the Subcommittee on Asian, the Pacific and the Global Environment chaired by Congressman Faleomavaega.  He is a rising senior at Yale University studying Behavioral Neuroscience.