The Bravo! section highlights achievements of our residents and groups.
The Dragon Kim Foundation, an Orange County-based nonprofit, has announced the 35 teams selected for the 2022 Dragon Kim Fellowship Program. The 72 teenagers, including 37 from Orange County, make up the foundation’s fifth fellowship class. Serving as a social entrepreneurship incubator for high school students, the foundation inspires teens to serve their communities while discovering and pursuing their passions. The creative social service projects were culled from those submitted by 297 teens from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities attending 33 high schools in Arizona, California and Nevada. Teens propose projects that channel their talents and interests into a community service project. Among this year’s projects are a hand-washing aid invention to prevent the spread of disease, a grief counseling workbook for youth and a lifestyle podcast for the visually impaired. The teams receive three weekends of leadership training and hands-on guidance from invested professionals. This year, 39 mentors come from companies like Edwards Lifesciences, Choice Leadership University, Google, UCI School of Business, SCORE Orange County, Kingston Technology, Nestle, Pacific Life, JOYA Scholars and IGT. This summer, the teams will implement their projects, supported by grants of up to $5,000 from the foundation. At the end of the program, the top teams will present their projects to a panel of judges at the annual Dragon Challenge, to be held Sept. 8. One team will win additional funding to continue their project.
– Submitted by Dan Pittman
Assisteens are getting back to in-person activities, including Library Craft Days the first Saturday of each month at University Park Library in Irvine, now that COVID-19 restrictions have been loosening up. Established in 1995, Assisteens is the teen auxiliary of Assistance League of Irvine. Its 89-teen membership is made up of boys and girls in grades 7-12. Teens are given opportunities to volunteer within their community while learning leadership and organizational skills. Their projects include preparing school supply kits for students in need attending Irvine Unified School District schools; sewing blankets for premature babies in the Kaiser Permanente Irvine NICU; working at the Orange County Great Park Farm + Food Lab; and providing towel sets, self-care kits and crafts for women and children staying at the Human Options shelter for domestic-abuse victims. Over the past two years, many of Assisteens’ 15 philanthropic programs have been altered to help ensure the health and safety of its members.
