Learning Filipino Culture is Fun at this Summer Cultural Immersion Camp

SAN FRANCISCO, July 21, 2021 – The University of the Philippines Alumni Association of San Francisco (UPAASF) will be holding its 8^th Annual Filipino Cultural Immersion Summer Camp in late July and early August of this year.

UPAASF Board Vice Chair Letty Quizon shares that “the Cultural Immersion Camp started in 2013 when Sonia Delen and I started to dream and lay the foundation for the Philippine Heritage Institute.” Quizon and Delen are the co-founders of the summer camp.

Quizon adds that the Institute aims to “educate Filipino American youth about their Filipino roots viewed from a historical and cultural context. The hope is that the more our Filipino American youth know about the land of their parents, the more likely they might get engaged and involved in its development and progress."
 
For this year, there will be two schedules to accommodate both in-person learning and virtual sessions.

 
The virtual sessions will be held from July 26 – July 30, from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. everyday. Registration for the 5-day session is $200 per student. Click this link to register for the online classes. The zoom link will be provided after registration.
 
The in-person sessions will be on August 2 – 6, from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. at St. Raymond’s Church located at 11557 Shannon Avenue, Dublin, CA 94568. Cost per student is $250. Registration for in-person classes may be accessed via this link.  
   
Participants will have Tagalog lessons, Philippine history, music and story time, arts and music, movement, Fil-Am history, and culture.
 
This year’s camp instructors are:
Lead Instructor and Curriculum Development
Myke Gonzales, EdD
Professor, City College of San Francisco
 
Camp Coordinator
Tanya Miren Cruz
Recording Secretary, UPAASF
 
Lead Instructor
Candy Bandong
 
Tagalog and Music Teacher
Robin Estrada
 
Filipino Cuisine Instructor
Lydia dela Cruz
 
Camp Co-Founder
Sonia Delen
Immediate Past President &  Board Member, UPAASF
 
Camp Co-Founder
Letty Quizon
Board Vice Chairperson, UPAASF
 
Homeroom and Tagalog Instructor
Karen Llagas
Professor, UC California Berkeley
Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies
 
Instructor
Melody Mendoza-Auslander
 
Instructor – Movement and Wellness
Jasmine Esguerra, DC
 
Instructor – Filipino Food
Liza Gino
President, UPAASF
The Summer Cultural Immersion Camp is sponsored by Ramar Scholarship Foundation, The Marketing Edge, My Favorite Bite, Evergreen Studio of Music & The Arts (ESOMA), together with community partners: St. Raymond Church and the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Museum, Stockton.
 
Quizon adds that the Summer Immersion Camp “is UPAASF's way of guiding our children to find their own self-identity as immigrants in an adopted land, so that they can know and therefore be proud of their culture."
 
Parents are encouraged to check out the camp for their children this summer. Go to www.UPAASF.org/summer-camp to register and for more information.