Newsletter

September 2006
Op Ed: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Seeyuen Lee, Intern Class of 2000

Browsing through the New York Times Magazine a while back, a full-page ad for Stony Brook University caught my eye. A spread proudly celebrated the latest architectural addition to the Long Island school, the Charles B. Wang Center. It struck me that the new buildings donated to universities I knew of had all been given by Chinese-American alumni. My own alma mater, Wellesley College, completed construction on the $25 million Lulu Chow Wang Student Center shortly after I graduated in 2005. At Boston University, I occasionally wander down to the newly opened Gerald Tsai Fitness and Recreation Center, a 270,000 square foot gym complete with two swimming pools, a jacuzzi, and rock climbing wall. The Tsai Performance Center sits a block away; its doors opened one year before the fitness center.

Education has traditionally been a high priority for Chinese. As competition to attend elite colleges escalates, high school students juggle multiple after-school activities and take SAT prep classes while trying to excel in advanced placement courses, all to produce a stronger college application than their counterparts. Attendance at an Ivy League institution is a sigh of relief for the Chinese parent. Higher education was once a personal goal, something we worked to give ourselves and our children. Now, greater opportunity and economic success has put some in the position to not only pay for their children to attend private schools, but to provide further educational opportunity to thousands of other students. A recent wave of unseen-before success has allowed Chinese to give multi-million dollar gifts to their alma maters, and equally as important, send important messages to the community. All three together send a very distinct message: awareness that boundaries and stereotypes once relegated to Chinese-Americans are being broken down everyday.

There is awareness in the appearance of certain last names. Like we recognize the surnames of Chinese-Americans elected officials who have made it in the political sphere, we now recognize a similar phenomenon in major financial gifts. It is a statement of our significance and presence; that our highest achievements are not only graduate degrees in engineering or medicine, but in philanthropy and areas in which we have been mostly underrepresented as well. There can be no complaints that 20th century immigration drained resources from those who were here first; our families may not have been here for long, but we are giving back to our communities just the same.

Whether we can boldly display our name across a building front or simply write a small check towards an organization that furthers our personal values, we are sending strong messages to our community. A gift of any size to institution, be it an educational, political, or cultural organization, is symbolic. Contributions to the CAPA Community Education Fund are a serious reflection of the strength and devotion of Chinese in the Bay Area to nurturing political participation. Every individual donation demonstrates that we are willing to give to future generations, that our values for youth go beyond straight academics, and that politics is just one of many uncharted territories that we plan to explore. No gift, in this case, is too small. Most of us will never be able to provide opportunities for thousands through the gift of a gymnasium, concert hall, or building, but many of us are capable of making smaller contributions that will make a difference in at least one young person’s life. I can say without a doubt that my CAPA-sponsored internship with then-San Francisco City Supervisor Leland Yee was a major factor when I decided to major in political science for my undergraduate studies. In the last few years I have had internships funded by other non-profit organizations that helped lead me to the policy side of public health and to graduate school. I would not be where I am without the ambition of groups who wanted to see more Asian Americans in politics and health policy and for that, I am grateful to the individual supporters of those organizations, including members of CAPA.

The financial support of hundreds of individuals and numerous corporate sponsors has enabled dozens of interns to pass through the CAPA program since its inception. To me, the annual gala is not so much a showcase of the elite group of interns selected each summer, but a demonstration of what we as Chinese are doing for community and for future generations. It is truly groundbreaking, what we, and other organizations like CAPA Ed Fund, are able to do. Support for the intern program, combined with CAPA’s ability to generate media attention at every event, has produced the same kind of awareness of a building with a Chinese namesake: we are ready, and we are willing, to delve into fields where we have rarely been seen before.

Seeyuen Lee was an intern for CAPA in the summer of 2000. She graduated in 2005 from Wellesley College and is currently studying at the Boston University School of Public Health. She hopes that one day she will have enough saved up to put her name on a bench.