If A Picture Paints A Thousand Words....

IF A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS…….

If a picture paints a thousand words,

Doesn’t this clearly describe SEAYLP? 

In the beginning, there were 28 individuals,

All grouped together at Chicago O’Hare airport,

Strangers to one another, getting acquainted,

At the ending, there were 28 individuals,

All staying for a while at Days Inn,

Family members amongst each other, saying goodbye,

Isn’t it amazing what 25 days together can do?

If a picture paints a thousand words,

Let’s travel back in time and look at the albums,

At all the times we spent together,

From the theatre and the arts session with Shana,

To the Halloween party, what a blast it was!

From the Welcome Luncheon,

To the water testing sites,

From learning about the river ecology,

To studying bout the great Abraham Lincoln,

From our time with our foster families,

To the times shopping at WALMART and BestBuy!

From the interesting trips all over America,

To the ‘exhilarating’ DIPLOMACY SIMULATION!

From Day 1 to Day 25.

If a picture paints a thousand words,

I would draw a big heart surrounding that picture,

Signifying all the friendships we have fostered,

Treasuring them till the day we leave this Earth,

SEAYLP has truly been an once-in-a-lifetime experience,

Something that does not happen every day in our lives,

I’m sure we are missing one another,

I see posts of people dreaming of SEAYLP here and there,

Memories of SEAYLP flashing randomly in our minds,

Although, it’s only been slightly more than a week since we all parted,

I miss all of you SEAYLPers!

They say all good things come to an end,

Yet, I can safely say that this is only the beginning of something new,

We’ll all meet again someday in the future,

As leaders making a difference in the world,

Let’s make SEAYLP our inspiration!

The future’s in our hands!

A SEAYLP reunion will definitely be planned

However, we have to do something first!

The Action Plan’s the first step,

Education’s next,

The future is yet to be written,

Emulate Abraham Lincoln!

Let’s make the most of it!

Let’s change the world for the better!

Let’s make a difference!

I MISS ALL OF YOU!

WE’LL CATCH UP AGAIN SOMEDAY J

I REMEMBER YOU!

There's no Special reason for this post,

I juz want 2 steal a single moment out of the busy life of you guys and hope I can make u guys smile n say...

Someone remembers u! :D

Lincoln Legacy

Lincoln Legacy

In the 21^st century why should we honor the 16^th US President, President Abraham Lincoln??

The easy answer is Abraham Lincoln is one of the nation's greatest presidents. As a young man, Abraham Lincoln “feared of achieving nothing that would make men remember him.” Today, the 16^th President tops the list of most influential – and most revered – Americans. He commemorated in music, poetry, and sculpture. His words are quoted by poets and politicians. His iconic face appears on stamps, coins, and currency. Mountains, cities, highways, and schools bearing his name dot the land.

He felt his most enduring achievement was the Emancipation Proclamation – “the one thing that would make people remembers that he had lived.”

Indeed, Lincoln’s legacy is most alive in our continuous search for freedom, equality, and opportunity.

For the recent SEAYLP trip, we are indeed privileged to have visited (6) Lincoln’s memorial and learning centre and the basic facts we have learnt are from the books or the places that we visited about this distinguished gentlemen.

• · He was born in Kentucky in a log cabin so small it is hard to imagine how his entire family slept in it.
• · The family moved to Indiana where he was raised.
• · Off to Illinois, the lanky Lincoln became a frontier lawyer, served as a state legislator and won election to the Presidency at a time when the nation’s very survival was at risk.
• · Inaugurated in 1861, he served throughout the Civil War, working to break the grip of slavery and to put the country back together until an assassin brought him down.

A common man forged in uncommon times; undeniably Lincoln is the model American leader that America has ever produced.

Every time when we read these facts again and again, we did get a better understanding about Abraham Lincoln. How a young boy who is weak in knowledge could become the 16^th President of America.

From the start of his early life in Hodgenville, Kentucky, on February 12, 1908, all the way up until the time of his assassination on April 15, 1865, Lincoln was known for being straightforward and honest. He didn’t come from a distinguished family and he spent as much of his time as he could attain as much knowledge as he could.

He had a desire to learn and be an influential leader from the time he was very young. He was in the Black Hawk War and served in the Illinois legislature and spent a few years in circuit courts before he ran against Stephen Douglas for Senator. He lost this race though, but gained a good reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President.

As President, Lincoln fought to keep the United States together. He felt that it was illegal for the southern states to secede from the Union so he went to war with them to keep them in the Union. In the process he managed to free all slaves and make slavery illegal everywhere in the United States. It was a long hard struggle and he was ultimately killed because he succeeded in doing this.

Maybe the greatest asset that Lincoln possessed was ability to speak. He made many great speeches that seemed to make everyone rally around him, and made many people who before may not have believed in him or wanted him to be President, believe and trust in him to lead our country. Even after the Civil War ended he tried to make things very peaceful and was trying to be kind to the southern states in trying to rebuild the whole country as more of a united country, but was assassinated before he could see his plans follow through by John Wilkes Booth, a southerner who thought that he was helping he south.

Abraham Lincoln was one of the most important Presidents in the history of the United States because of what he did to keep the country together in difficult times and abolish slavery. He was the perfect man for the job because of his strong will and his ability to get people to follow him. There aren’t many other Presidents that would’ve been able to handle everything during this time in history as well as Lincoln did. .

In remembrance of him, below are some interesting facts that are well documented.

• · He was born on February 12^th 1809 and died April 15^th 1865 at the age of fifty six.
• · His home state is Illinois.
• · His party was Republican and he was president for four years from 1861-1865, when he was assassinated.
• · His vice presidents were Hannibal Hamlin and Andrew Johnson.
• · He was preceded by James Buchanan and succeeded by Andrew Johnson.
• · His wife was called Mary Todd Lincoln, who was brought up into a very wealthy family.
• · Mary’s parents disagreed with her marrying Abraham because he had a poor background.
• · Abraham had four children, Robert Todd Lincoln, Edward Lincoln, Willie Lincoln, Tad Lincoln. Only Robert Todd Lincoln survived into adulthood.
• · Abraham was an unaffiliated Christian as he never officially acquired church membership.
• · He created a national banking system with the National Banking Act in 1863, resulting in a standardized currency.
• · He was the first president to be assassinated.
• · He had deep depression, even though he would frequently tell stories and jokes to friends and family.
• · He was the tallest U.S president at 6ft 4 inches.
• · He patented a system to alter buoyancy of steamboats in 1849.
• · His birth mother died from milk sickness.
• · His father remarried a widow, and Abraham was very close to his step mother.
• · He ran a store in New Salem.
• · Even though he was strong, a talented wrestler, and proficient with an axe, Lincoln disliked killing and harming animals, even for food.
• · Lincoln proposed to Mary just one year after meeting her in Springfield 1839.
• · He was the first president to have a beard.
• · Lincoln, one week before his death, had a dream of someone crying in the White House, when he found the room; he looked in and asked who had passed away. The man in the room said the President. When he looked in the coffin it was his own face he saw.
• · Lincoln was fond of pets, and owned horses, cats, dogs and a turkey.

In conclusion, President Abraham Lincoln should be honored as the 16^th President of the United States in the 21^st Century for all he had done and his deed are well remembered by all who got to know his achievement that he has done to his country. This man’s history is known worldwide for what he had achieved for America and deservedly be amongst the most distinguished of all the past and present Presidents of the United States of America.

Feelings after leaving SEAYLP Fall 2010

Greetings from Willy from Brunei from the SEAYLP Fall 2010

Before I start anything, I would like to dedicate this texts to everyone who involved in SEAYLP Fall 2010

Thanks for being my friend

Thanks for thinking about me

Thanks for care about me

Thanks for everything you guys did for me

You shouldn't have

But I'm so glad you guys did

It had been a very tough time since the day we left each other - missing each other, sending each other off, etc. However, I personally have faith that blessings and the real SEAYLP have just begun.

Remembering the day when we arrived at the O'haire International Airport in Chicago, everyone seemed to be like strangers. Hence, the whole scenario was being up-sided-down on the last day of SEAYLP Fall 2010 when everyone had to leave to go back to their home country. We were just like best pals, friends, or even FAMILY!

Me, myself, and I believe every SEAYLP participants... are looking forward to have a reunion for SEAYLP.

Lastly, I'd like to say, thank you! I miss you guys! Everyone! EVERYONE! :D

Illinois Maths & Science Academy

It seems like it was the first day elementary school, our imagination start to wander as we stepped into an unfamiliar environment. The journey begun, we met a history teacher and he told us a story and gave a brief introduction of the academy. We had opportunities to interact with the students in the academy. Although we came from different backgrounds, we are able to communicate effectively and connect with each others’ thoughts. The reserved side of us took control and we were afraid to meet new people. However, to our surprise, students in the academy were very nice and this made us feel welcomed. The experience was like a roller coaster ride, and we enjoyed every moment in the academy, the many differences can help us improve our school back home! We can do it!

WATER IS LIFE:Chesapeake Bay - a beautiful place - many nice people

We are now experiencing the last days of SEAYLP 2010. Today is November 17th, we started very early to go to Chesapeake bay, one of the largest bays in USA. At 12pm, a big and beautiful boat came to pick us up. We sailed around to visit the Bay. It’s much more beautiful than I thought. Chesapeake Bay is quiet but graceful beauty . Sitting on the boat and looking around, I saw a lot of trees, nice houses around the bay. It was windy and the water’s tranquil.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge was built in

the early 1950s from Cape Sandy, Maryland, near

Annapolis, west of Kent Island, Maryland. The Bay is

known as the place which offers seafood such as clams, crabs ...

People here are very friendly and hospitable . Many volunteers offer to work here to instruct visitors and give information about the bay . The time in the boat passed so fast but I got acquainted with a volunteer. She‘s about 50 years old and very kind. She told me some interesting stories about this bay and her life. Perhaps she loves her job and of course she loves this area very much. Our conversation is so interesting that I forgot to ask her name. I think the hospitability of people living here makes the Chesapeake bay more beautiful. Beautiful place-beautiful people.

MAKING THINGS HAPPEN: A State Department Simulation

By participating in SEAYLP, not only have we received valuable knowledge through many workshops, service project, water testing and action plan but we also have a chance to try an extremely wonderful activity which we have never experienced before: Diplomacy simulation.

We have the first lesson about diplomacy simulation which was instructed by Shahin on Nov 3. It brought us into a brand new experience. The purpose of the simulation is to address critical issues in each conflict, test new approaches to conflicts, and devise innovative diplomatic solutions. Diplomats will use negotiating skills to reach an agreement and make policies.

There are five main stakeholder groups: the United Nations, Government of The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), United States Department of State, Government of Japan and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Each Stakeholder group will prioritize the possible actions in order to solve problems which have been given. 

Before the real Negotiation begins, all the representatives worked very hard to do research on their own standing and to find the perfect solution which would ultimately benefit all parties. However, a huge amount of flexibility was also required by each stakeholder. For example, Japan initially found soybean as a feasible replacement to reduce the consumption of bluefish tuna which would result in overfishing and IUU fishing. But after all that tedious work, they were forced to scrape off that idea as it simply was not in line with their objectives and goals. The creative ideas which every group came up with to attain their goals and a perfect compromise are indeed praiseworthy.

The morning of 17th November 2010, everybody looks so tired since they have to get up early preparing for their own diplomacy. The negotiation between U.N , W.W.F, F.S.M, U.S, Japan was going severe until the last minute by result 7.125 between F.S.M and Japan.

Thus, the simulation which made everybody worked a lot was finally done. Thanks SEAYLP for giving us such a great opportunity to learn. Though everybody had to work so hard, we had many fun moment during the time we discuss together.   

Posted by Anita and Tracy.