Hello! My name is Sophie Zheng, currently a rising sophomore studying International Business at Loyola University Chicago. Growing up I was never really interested in being involved with civic engagement or advocacy since I didn’t see a reason to be involved. But at the same time, no one really thought I was Chinese. I was frequently mistaken for being Japanese or Korean, even now in college. I had wondered and questioned my own identity. Do I not look Chinese enough? Why don’t I have monolids? Is it because I have a round face? Even my name was often wrong. I am not Sophia, my full name is Sophie. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I got to experience first-hand the hate people had towards my identity and the realization that no one is going to help us. We have to stand up for ourselves and let our voices be heard. Can you imagine having people ask over the phone (my family owns a restaurant), “Do you sell bat soup/dog meat?”, having teachers single you out for wearing a mask before the pandemic officially hit the U.S, hearing your classmates say ugly words even knowing that you could hear. It was there that I can’t be neutral, I have to take action and start to push myself into leadership roles so I have a voice and representation. That was my journey, and now as the executive programming coordinator on the youth leadership council, I hope to help others be proud of who they are and never ever have to experience that.
I honestly went into this convention thinking that it would be no different than the one I went to four years ago but this one was definitely very special and dear to me. Although I knew of all the discussions that were going to be happening at the convention, I was not expecting to experience so many emotions from feeling inspired that our voices are being heard to tearing up from relating to so much of the discussion that was happening.
I’m very grateful and proud to be able to be a part of the Youth Leadership council and get the opportunity to plan and coordinate the First National Youth convention. It was amazing to see so many youths wanting to get involved and help make this convention possible for us to pull off. I had originally joined the council because I was tired. Tired that our community is being bashed, tired that our voices aren’t being heard, tired that we can’t be proud of who we are, tired that our parents must tell us to be careful in public so we don’t end up on the news. I was tired of a lot of things but more than anything else, I was angry and sad at the abundance of hate that came crashing like a tsunami. I hope that through the growth of the youth council we can start to see change as the younger generation as well as getting more involved civically, so we have a voice in our government. We are the change and it’s our turn to stand up for ourselves and our generation.
I also want to give a special shout out to the UCA IL chapter for being my starting point in getting involved in UCA as well as giving me the support I needed. It has been a pleasure to start off as a volunteer for many of the events that were planned as well as attending my first UCA Convention ( 2018) with UCA IL in Washington, D.C.
I also want to thank our chapter leader Mrs. Ren Li, who gave us a chance to interview many of the organizations present in the Community & AAPI Youth organization showcase. One of the showcases I interviewed was UCA Waves, which is a branch of UCA focused on mental health. I had the honor of talking to Lily Chen and Jessie Li and hearing about why she decided to be a part of it and her thoughts on being a part of an organization advocating for mental health and awareness.
Going back to the convention, I wasn’t expecting to cry during the Silent War documentary screening and the panel afterward. Especially growing up an Asian household where mental health isn’t something that is talked about but rather a taboo topic for many. I know from personal experience that it’s a battle many fight silently and don’t disclose because how would you explain something like that to your parents, who brought you up as best as they can? That something wrong with your mind? That you experience unhealthy thoughts? I know myself and many others had to step out of that room to take a breath and collect ourselves after the movie screening and the panel. Nor was I expecting the LGBTQ+ session to leave me speechless, loss in thought and stunned (in a good way), when such a thing is frowned upon in our community and having it talked about with people who understand the struggles was exhilarating. Never would have thought that I would be making friends who understand and are comfortable in their sexuality.
I felt very honored to be the moderator for the volunteering and civic engagement workshop and being able to engage the audience with youths who have done impressive things. All still being in high school! We had four panelist from the founder of Detester Magazine (Huiwen Chen), one of the chapter director of Dear Asian Youth (Nikhitha Balijepalli), co-founder of Youth Voting Initiative (Peter Zhang), and even someone running for Ohio House of Representatives (Sam Cao). I personally was very inspired by their accomplishments and I’m sure many in the audience were in awe too. This just goes to show that our generation is taking action and standing up for themselves.
Lastly, I want to end it with the best part. There are no words to describe how thankful I am to have found so many friends and that in less than 72 hours, we would develop such deep bonds during our adventures, from exploring D.C to connecting from emotional talks late at night, among many other things. I didn’t think I would feel so sad parting with my new friends and knowing that we came from different parts of the U.S, many of us made plans to come together again for the next convention. I had a really fun time during the convention.
I believe that this convention has opened up a lot of people’s eyes in regards to the fact that we can not sit silently and watch our generation be oppressed. We have to be the change and voice for our people. There is already movement happening and our generation is the change and progress we need right now.
Thank you for reading about Sophie Zheng’s UCA youth convention experience, which took place from July 14th to July 16th. You can learn more about Sophie, our executive programming director, and our other wonderful UCA youth council members here. Stay tuned for future convention recaps, short stories, and poetry.