Cornell University Chinese Students Association

Dear Members of CSA,

Thank you for joining the Chinese Students Association. I’m excited for this year and to meet all of you. CSA is the largest Asian American organization on campus and offers many events throughout the year.

These events include Big/Lil family events, the Moon Festival, social events, winter and spring semiformals, China Night, and many more to come. General body meetings are the first Mondays of each month at 5pm in Robert Purcell Community Center. CSA also offers leadership opportunity for freshmen. For more details, please check out our website www.cornellcsa.com and/or our Facebook group!

I hope this will be an exciting year for you!

Regards,
Tiffany Yu

On August 23, 2007, the Chinese Students Association were planning to have their glorious picnic to attract a new crowd and publicize.

And then, Ithaca intervened with half an hour of heavy rain. With such a dreary atmosphere and chilly weather, the picnic was postponed to the next day from 2-4 PM. However, the momentum of the advertising with flyers was lost since most people did not know about the postponement. Still, nearly sixty people showed up to postponed picnic.

In terms of numbers, it was not as successful as past years’ picnics, but in terms of fun and excitement, it was just as great as ever.

Freshmen and upperclassmen hiked up to North Campus to get to know each other and enjoy the different flavors of ice cream in the blazing sun.

While some of the members were playing frisbee and football on Rawlings Green, others just sat down and talked amongst themselves to enjoy the ice cream and root beer floats.

Many old and new CSA members got to know about each other and the organization as the annual picnic was kicked off to welcome everybody back to Cornell campus. Many people signed up on the spot to become CSA members as they were convinced by the many fun and exhilarating activities we would be holding throughout the year.

After two hours, the crowd gradually dwindled down as people returned to their classes or went back to their dorms, but mostly content that they attended the Annual Welcome CSA Picnic.

CSA also hosted its first dance of the year at Appel on Saturday, August 25. Right before the dance started, a thunderstorm came over North Campus, but a lot of people still showed up and mingled on the dance floor for a couple of hours. Sadly, there was a problem with the music, so the dance didn’t go as expected, but people still had fun! It turned out to be a fun social event.

Welcome back to Cornell!

In the words of Marian Wright Edelman: “It’s time for greatness— not for greed. It’s a time for idealism—not ideology. It is a time not just for compassionate words, but compassionate action.”

There is no time like today to get involved on campus and make the most of your time here. Community service is beneficial for both members of the Cornell and Ithaca community as well as you—the student performing the service. Other then the reward of knowing that your efforts are making a difference to someone, several scholarships and fellowships require community service. The Cornell Tradition, for instance, is a scholarship program grounded in the ideals of public service, academic achievement, and strong work ethic. This scholarship provides financial assistance as well as many other benefits to students who devote time to community or campus service, work, and attainment of good grades. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors may apply. Also, public service develops young adults into well rounded, productive members of society. Most professional schools like to see applicants who have taken an interest in bettering their surroundings.

Cornell has many great venues for service, and CSA is one of them. We encourage you to come to philanthropy events. Upcoming in the month of October will be Into the Streets, a Cornell day of service which sends thousands of volunteers to do beneficial work in Ithaca. CSA will be sending a team.

Other service venues include:

• EYES – math/science tutoring and engineering skills enhancement.
• Language Pairing Program – you are paired up with an individual who is fluent in a language you want to learn and wants to practice conversing in English with you.
• Translator Interpreter Program – a volunteer translation service by Cornell students available to the Ithaca community.

See the Public Service Center for more opportunities. Be alert for ways to volunteer! Come to CSA philanthropy events—they are a fun, great way to make friends while giving back to the community and developing indispensable skills.

Are you a sports enthusiast? Or are you one of those people who just like to play sports for fun? Either way, you should definitely participate in Cornell’s Intramural Sports. By representing the Chinese Students Association, you will not only play for free, but you will also have a great time on the courts with your friends in the organization.

If you are interested in any of the activities listed on the left, I will try my best to organize a team for you. So preferably, invite all your friends! Also, if you would like to manage your own team, that is perfectly fine as well.

*For the events with a lot of participants (i.e. 3-on-3 Basketball), tryouts will be held.

Due to the success of last year’s big/little family program, Chinese Students Association has decided to continue this program. In the past year, many lasting relationships were formed; it also encouraged people to become more involved with this club.

Therefore, we are asking if anybody who has been a part of CSA for at least a year, would be interested in hosting a family and acting as a big brother/sister for about four little brothers/sisters, who will probably be freshmen or transfer students. If you would like to co-host a family with someone else, we are open to any suggestions as well. Please try to meet potential family members at either/both the picnic and the dance. You may also e-mail me any requests about who you would be interested in taking into your family as well.

This year, we will have more activities required of the bigs, and in order to guarantee the success of this program, we want families to get together every three weeks or so for dinner or an event together. We will also have regular meetings with bigs to discuss ideas and ensure people are taking care of their families.

CSA is currently accepting applications for the Freshman Liaison position. This executive board position is a chance for freshman to gain leadership experience and become more involved with CSA.

All freshman CSA members may apply for this office. The duties of a freshman liaison include reaching out to fellow freshmen and getting them to come out to events and become more involved.

Freshman liaisons attend all weekly executive board meetings and participate in board decisions.