When: Thursday, September 25, 2025
12pm–1pm PST / 9am-10am HST / 3pm-4pm EST
Description: Join us for “Speak Up and Lead: Student Voices on the Power of AANAPISIs”, a dynamic student-focused webinar celebrating AANAPISI Week 2025. This event brings together student leaders from AANAPISI-designated colleges and universities to share their powerful, first-hand stories about how AANAPISI-funded programs have transformed their educational journeys.
Where: Virtual via Zoom
Registration: tinyurl.com/aanapisi25-student-panel
Speakers
Nikka Reyes
Psychology and Communication Studies
Irvine Valley College
• Peer mentor at IVC’s ELEVATE AAPI program
• President of the AAPI Club
• Fellow at AAPI Data’s Bolder Futures Social Impact Fellowship Program
Angel Santos
Environmental Science (June 2025)
Portland State University
• PROA Pathways scholar (Northern Marianas College)
• Secretary, Pacific Islanders Club (2024-2025)
• Former mentor for the Inclusive Network Supporting Pacific Islander Retention In Education program (INSPIRE)
• Founding member/Co-president of the Southeast Asian Association (SEAA)
Annie Huynh
English & Asian American Studies
University of Massachusetts Boston (Alumni)
• Peer Mentor & Student Coordinator, UMB Asian American Resource Office (AARO)
• Treasurer, ACE Coordinator, Vice President, and Co-President, Vietnamese Student Association (VSA)
• Profession: Development Assistant at Global Arts Live (non-profit) in Cambridge, MA.
Emma Williams
Elementary Education
University of Minnesota (UNM)
ASPIRE program coordinator (APARC mentor mentee program)
Dr. Aida Cuenza-Uvas is a first-generation college student who comes from an immigrant family. She was born and raised on Guam. She graduated from Mt. SAC with an A.A. Degree in Liberal Arts before transferring to Cal Poly Pomona where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Urban and Regional Planning. She has a Master of Science degree in Counseling from Long Beach State University. In 2020, Dr. Cuenza-Uvas earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from California State University Fullerton (CSUF). Her dissertation, “Voices from the Pacific: Narratives of Pacific Islander Students Attending a California Community College” earned CSUF’s 2020 Outstanding Scholarly and Creative Activity Award. She has co-authored two scholarly journals, one in New Directions for Student Leadership and another in AAPI Nexus.