Almaden Resident

Community

Photograph courtesy of Leland Bridge Group

Bridging Generations: Leland High School student Karen Lee shows off her traditional martial arts skills in a demonstration called 'Spear Dance' at this year's Leland Bridge Night, held Feb. 3.

Group bridges cultural gap for parents

By Lydia Sarraille

Growing up in Hong Kong, Nancy Young doesn't remember her parents getting very involved in her school activities. Education traditionally stayed in the hands of educators, not parents, she says.

"They would attend a parents' meeting once a year," Young says. "That's the way it was there."

After she moved to the United States in 1980 and had children of her own, Young says she enjoyed the opportunity to be involved in their elementary school classrooms.

"It was good to be so connected to my kids," Young says.

When the children reached middle school, Young found fewer opportunities to be involved in her children's schools.

She turned to the Leland Bridge Parents Group for help. The group provides opportunities, especially for immigrant parents, to become involved, Young says.

Leland Bridge is a 7-year-old effort by parents of Chinese descent to more fully involve themselves and the community in Leland High School activities. The group supports the school by providing volunteers and fund-raising.

"Benefiting the school is benefiting our kids," Young says.

"We act as a bridge between the school and Chinese parents who may not otherwise get very involved in school issues," says Wenlin Chen, a founding member of Leland Bridge and the group's volunteer coordinator.

Bridge member Morgan Young explained that in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where the parents involved in Bridge tend to come from, education is left to the schools and parents rarely get involved in school affairs. In the transition to America, where parent-teacher associations, after-school programs and fundraisers are the norm, the Chinese voice can get lost, Morgan Young says. "We try to explain to the Chinese parents that they need to get more involved in the school over here."

Leland Bridge has helped raise funds for Leland High School academic and elective programs such as physics and drama, and the group was honored this year with a Good Neighbor award from District 10 Councilwoman Nancy Pyle.

The Good Neighbor awards for all 10 districts were presented at this year's annual Community Breakfast on March 7. The event was held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center and featured the State of the City address given by Mayor Chuck Reed.

Leland Bridge began in 2000 when founding members Hua-Yan Wee, Irene Chen, Elenor So, Wenlin Chen and Ai-Chu Wang banded together to raise money for the Leland media center. When the group raised $30,000 in one month for the school, Bridge Group chief coordinator Chunmin Su says, the parents of Leland Bridge realized that by mobilizing the Chinese community, they could substantially help their children's school.

The organization was officially founded in 2001, and now the group holds an annual fundraiser called Leland Bridge Night around Chinese New Year in addition to the regular school activities it provides with volunteers and donations.

Bridge Night, which was attended by about 360 people this year, includes a meal, informal awards and performances by parents and students.

This year at Bridge Night on Feb. 3, teens gave demonstrations of break dancing and traditional Chinese music and dance and participated in a fashion show, among other things. Tickets to the event were sold to raise funds, and even the volunteers and performers were required to buy them. Additionally, raffle tickets were sold, and an iPod video, Nintendo Wii and iPod Nano were given away as prizes. The event made more than $18,000.

In addition to fundraising, Leland Bridge publishes a newsletter in Chinese to facilitate communication between parents and the school and helps with school functions by calling on parents from a pool of regular volunteers.

"It's like we're doing wholesale," says Su with a laugh.

Nancy Young says the group's success lies in its ability to do good for the whole school, not just their own children.

"We try to reach across cultural boundaries to bring the whole community together," she says.

Bridging language and cultural barriers for parents who may feel that they can't participate fully in their children's education is the main focus of the group.

"We are always there to help, and we're the first name the school district calls for help in the Chinese community," says Morgan Young.

Wenlin Chen says the constant arrival of new students and parents to the school community means there will always be a need for the group.

"We help parents stay involved in their kids' lives," says Nancy Young. "And because of that involvement, the ties between kids and parents get stronger."

Without parent participation, she says, Leland Bridge would not be successful. "Cooperation is key," she says.

Nancy Young says parents who take part in Leland Bridge volunteer opportunities are able to talk with their children about current issues in their schools, which gives the parents a better understanding of what their teens' lives are really like.

"Ultimately," says Morgan Young, "we do all this for the kids."