ACAN STAR – 2021 Service Award Application
➢ What is the ACAN STAR Service Award?
o The ACAN STAR Service Award encourages youth to make positive changes in our community, further expanding Chinese Americans’ impact on society. The STAR program is constructed with the view that the most effective way to foster students’ abilities to positively influence their communities is through community service projects, both large and small. 

o The objective of the ACAN STAR program is to support youths in finding opportunities for mentorship, strengthening teamwork skills, and serving the community.
o ACAN STAR rewards ACAN Youth projects and other service projects led by students. These projects will ideally involve multi-year commitments from participating youths. This way, participants may learn how to sustainably maintain commitment to a long-term project, track their own yearly growth, and develop skillsets that will benefit their future ambitions. Evidence of holding long term involvement on a project is particularly attractive for universities and employers.
o ACAN will publish ACAN Youth projects online, help recruit youth leaders and team members, assign adults mentors/advisors, and provide feedback/appraisals.
o ACAN Youth participants are encouraged to apply for an ACAN STAR Service Award. Each Youth project will have its own ACAN STAR Service Award opportunity.
➢ ACAN STAR Service Award 2021
We are pleased to announce that the ACAN STAR Service Award 2021 application is open!
Awards:
This year’s ACAN STAR Service Award will be awarded to outstanding participants involved with ACAN Youth projects or other eligible community service projects . The award plan is as follows:

Individual Award:
– Gold Award: 1 individual, $800
– Silver Award: 3 individuals, $400 each
– Bronze Award: 5 individuals, $200 each
– Honorable Mention: Multiple individuals, $50 each

Team Award: 1 team of 5 or more members, $1000


TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE ACAN STAR AWARD, APPLICANTS MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

  • Youth applicants must currently be enrolled in a middle school or high school in the greater Austin area.
  • The project must have been conducted during 2020.
  • The project or work must have been voluntary, without payment or monetary benefits to the applicant or family.
  • The project or work must be certified by a non-profit organization.
  • An applicant applying for the individual award must be an ACAN member or must have a family member who is an ACAN member.
  • APPLICANT(S) may apply as part of a team or as an Individual. 
  • Applying as a Team: Team members who apply together for a project will need to submit separate applications to apply as individuals to that same project.
    • Each team should only submit one team application.  A team representative must submit the following application paperwork:
      • ACAN Star Service Award 2021 Application 
      • ONE Teacher’s or Mentor Recommendation Letter for the Team (Mandatory)
      • Essay of reflection: at least 60% of team members will each need to provide an individual reflection on their experiences working on the project. Each individual reflection should be between 300-600 words. The team representative may consolidate these individual reflections into one electronic file.
  • Applying as an Individual: Please submit the following application paperwork:
    1. ACAN Star Service Award 2021 Application
    2. ONE Teacher’s or Mentor’s Recommendation Letter (Recommended)
    3. Essay of reflection: provide a reflection, between 300-600 words, on your experiences working on the project.
  • All application materials must be submitted by 1/31/2021. 

ACAN STAR Service Award 2021 Review Committee:
ACAN STAR Service Award applications will be reviewed by a committee comprised of the following community members:
– YanJun Chu: ACAN STAR 2021 Review Committee Chair, ACAN BoD, Mentor for the Project Inspira
– Angela Qian: ACAN BoD, Education Committee Chair, ACAN STAR Sponsor
– Ed Wu: ACAN BoD, Youth Committee Chair, ACAN STAR Sponsor
– Wei Liu: ACAN BoD, Community Service Committee Chair, ACAN STAR Sponsor
– Michele Bao: ACAN BoD, Art Committee Chair, Mentor for the 5/9 and Online Christmas concerts
– Helen Gu: ACAN BoD, Mentor for the 3D face shield project
– Jennifer Liu: Mentor for the Handmade face shield project
– Doris Lee: ACAN BoD, Mentor for the Project QuarARTine
– ACAN member1: TBD (recruiting in progress)
– ACAN member2: TBD (recruiting in progress)
– ACAN member3: TBD (recruiting in progress) 


Award Announcement:
ACAN STAR 2021 service award recipients will be announced at the end of April 2021. The ACAN STAR Award ceremony date is TBD. We will keep the community posted with details about the event.

Disclaimer: ACAN owns the right to make any reasonable changes to the program in the case of unforeseeable events. Any awards given will be final.