Fil-Am Celebrities Featured In UP Alumni's 2nd Filipino Summer Camp

SF Mayor's Adviser on Education and Family Services Hydra Mendoza (4th from rght) is shown with 2013 campers and Ramar Foods President Susie Quesada (5th from left) Program Chairs Letty Quizon (far right) and Sonia Delen (far left). (Photo courtesy of UPAA-SF)

Alumni of the University of the Philippines in the San Francisco Bay Area are calling on parents who want their kids to learn more about their Filipino heritage and to be inspired by Fil-Am role models, to register in the second annual Filipino Cultural Immersion Summer Camp. The camp is open to Filipino youth from 10-17 years old.

The University of the Philippines Alumni Association of San Francisco (UPAA-SF) is holding the two-week camp on weekdays from July 7 to 18, from 9 AM to 3 PM at the Community Room of the Holy Child St. Martin Church on 777 Southgate St. in Daly City. Graduation is on July 19, Saturday.

Campers will meet Filipino American role models and celebrities, Balitang America’s Gel Santos Relos, Henni Espinosa (both UP alumnae) and Daly City council member and former mayor Ray Buenaventura. Daly City mayor David Canepa will also grace the event. UP System President Alfredo Pascual who will be visiting the UP Bay Area community will address the students on their last day in campers on July 18.

Experts on various aspects of Filipino culture such as history, kulintang music, native folk dances, literature, history, Tagalog language, cuisine, and arts will teach the children. This year, a healthy living module and Filipino martial arts will be added to the curriculum.

“My child always came home speaking new Tagalog phrases every day. He did not even speak a word of Tagalog before the camp,” said one Filipino parent whose child attended last year’s camp.

UPAA-SF President and Camp Program Chair Letty Quizon said: “We hope to top the successful Filipino immersion camp we held last year at the Bessie Carmichael School in San Francisco that drew a lot of positive feedback from parents and participants.”

To register, contact Letty Quizon at lettyquizon@gmail.com or Sonia Delen at soniadelen@gmail.com or they can visit www.upaa-sf.org to download registration forms.

UPAA-SF’s Filipino Cultural Immersion Camp is made possible through a grant of the Ramar Foods Scholarship Foundation headed by Ramar Foods President Susie Quesada, AARP-California and community partners, the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, the Office of the San Francisco Mayor’s Adviser on Education and Family Services and the Holy Child St. Martin Church.