During this year’s Labor Day weekend, AYFA partnered with the AANF to host the 8th Annual youth Summit for this year’s 90th Annual Assyrian Convention.
This year’s theme was ‘Together We Rise’ with the goal of unity and solidarity amongst our Assyrian youth. Our focus was to let Assyrian youth know the importance of being involved within our community, no matter our backgrounds, our political beliefs, what village we come from, etc. Before all the workshops and activities began, we started our Summit with a fun social mixer! We sang, we danced, we mingled. We also had the pleasure of hearing from the newly re-elected President of AANF, Ashor Chamoun.
On Saturday, we embarked on our journey with a ‘Step Forward If…’ activity that was inspired by CCASYA during the AYFA Assembly this past May. We shared all sorts of statements from Ashur Bet Sargis being the best singer of all time to feeling welcomed or unwelcomed by our own community. Participants were to step forward if they agreed with the statement, which gave everyone a quick understanding of where many people stood within our Assyrian community. We also had the pleasure of having AANF’s Western Regional Director, who spoke about Assyrian American Diversity and the future of Assyrians. Members from Khoyada d'Yalopeh were also in attendance, and spoke about the youth organization in the motherland and the work they do. Afterwards, we then took our participants to the Gishru Panel where the AYFA Delegation was able to present their experience to a large audience and expressed the importance of visiting the homeland at least once. Afterwards, one of our committee members, Nyree Khamo, was able to present ‘Share Your Story’ which discussed the importance of painting a picture of the reasons behind a certain project or work geared towards action.
We would like to thank everyone involved in making this year's summit come to life. A big thank you to our Youth Summit Committee members Nineveh Rasho (AYFA, President), Mike Marko (AYFA, Secretary), Stephney Bazi (AYFA, Marketing Director), Sylvia Isteefanos (AYFA, Eastern Regional Director), Nyree Khamo (ASAC member), Juliana Khamo (ASA LA, President), Obalet Yousif (ASA LA, Treasurer) and Bianca Betdashtoo (ASA LA, Boad Member) for all their hard work. We would also like to thank the Assyrian American National Federation for another opportunity to host the Youth Summit this year.
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