Entering the Blossom Market for this cohort’s graduation, the only emotion I felt was awe. I had expected to feel more sentimental, even grieving. After all, it was the end of an internship which had introduced me to professional pathways in the public sphere, perspectives that transformed the way I identify my own race, thirteen other people whom I now consider close friends, and much more that I can’t quite express even now. I yearned for some gratifying feeling of mournful finality, one which would lend a sort of emotional significance to the ceremony and mirror the reactions evidenced by the teary-eyed smiles around me. Instead, all I could think was how glad I was to be sitting in that gorgeous venue enjoying an acai bowl and light conversation with those who had characterized this experience for me.
Interns listening to the graduation speeches. From left: Naya Dukkipati, Olivia Diaz-Anderson, Olivia Sieve, Pa Houa Lee, Phong Nguyen, and William Chao.
The room was filled with people who had supported us that summer. Host office supervisors, CAUSE staff, friends, and family listened intently as we heard from the various speakers and spoke ourselves on the program and projects we pursued. The graduation ceremony illustrated a gravitas and conviviality in the organization that I wasn’t able to do justice in conversations with my family and the Pilipino Workers Center host office staff, and I was grateful that they could see and meet others from the program. As we received our graduation certificates, the room was alive with camera flashes, cheers, and applause; everyone in the cohort stood together clutching these papers, a unified team for possibly the last time.
Steve Lin (pictured right) and Olivia Sieve (pictured left) posing with the latter's CAUSE Leadership Academy Certificate of Completion.
CAUSE intern Olivia Sieve pictured with her family during the soiree. From left: Carolyn Sieve, Olivia Sieve, Lauren Sieve, Jo Enciso, and Mark Sieve.
At the subsequent soiree, CAUSE Board Chair Charlie Woo described how CAUSE began decades ago as a venture between friends who wanted to serve the AAPI community. Now, I could see just how far it had come: an entire marketplace was filled to capacity with supporters of the organization, and attendees ranged from CAUSE programs alumni to local elected officials and business owners.
Beyond this though, the inherent camaraderie built into this network shone through in every interaction throughout the event — guests greeting each other as long-missed friends, family, mentors, coworkers. Watching the banter between other CAUSE Leadership Academy alumni who had remained in touch over the years inspired me to imagine how my own cohort would reunite in however many months or years it took for all of us to be in the same room again. To me, the alumni represented former generations of the same family, and our cohort was just one of many iterations of CAUSE’s efforts in championing AAPI leadership.
The CAUSE Leadership Academy provided me with more than just career development skills, professional connections, or an item to list on my resume. The program has illuminated the dynamic, spirited, and constant work of activism — and it has provided me with enough inspiration, enough momentum, and enough confidence to participate in it.
Throughout the graduation, I thought I didn’t feel any grief because I couldn’t quite grasp that it was over. But it’s not. To quote Steve Lin, CAUSE Director of Programs and our fearless leader, “Remember, folks, this is just the beginning.”
One of the final group pictures of the 2023 CAUSE Leadership Academy cohort, with CAUSE staff.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the views or positions of CAUSE or the CAUSE network.
Written by Olivia Sieve, Leadership Academy 2023 Intern.
The CAUSE Leadership Academy (CLA) for students is a nine-week, paid, internship program that prepares college undergraduates to lead and advocate for the Asian Pacific Islander community on their campuses and beyond.