PCA Youth Center
Past Events
2023-2024 School year
Student Council Members:
Aaron Jiang, Aaron Peng, Allison Guan, Andrew Li, Angelina Li, Angie Sun, Ava Liu, Bella Liu, Betsey Yang, Colin Liang, Darren Wang, Edward Mei, Elena Xiao, Ellen Liu, Emily Wei, Eric Chen, Grace Huang, Hanna Qian, Henry Tang, Iris Xia, Jack Xu, Jason Ma, Joanna Bi, Lydia Tang, Lynsey Zhao, Matthew Tan, Randy Bai, Rebecca Zhao, Shirley Deng, Sienna Li Sophia Liao, Zoey Guo
Ongoing Book Drive
Chinese Cultural Festival
We are excited to announce that the PCA will be participating in the yearly Chinese Cultural Festival held at Mellon Park! We will have many activities like making bookmarks and face painting. The festival will have Asian cuisine, traditional performances, fun games, and more!
Date: Saturday, September 16, 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM Location: 6518 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
我们很高兴宣布PCA会参加2023年的匹兹堡中华文化节！我们会有很多的活动，比如做书签和面部彩绘。中华文化节会有亚洲口味的美食，正宗的表演，和很多好玩的游戏！
时间：九月十六日，早上11:00 到晚上 6:00
地点：6518 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Flyer Design / 海报设计: Lynsey Zhao
Caption / 文案: Casey Yang
Translation / 翻译: Aaron Jiang
Summer Field Day
We are excited to announce that the PCA Youth Center Student Council will be hosting a fun field day at North Park! There will be various stations with different activities including relays, tic-tac-toe, cup pong, and other themed races. In addition, there will be large group games such as capture the flag, sharks/minnows, water fights, tug of war, limbo, and more. Parents are welcome to stay, and feel free to bring a friend or two! There is a $5 fee and a form that needs to be printed and completed by each participant - fees and waiver forms will be accepted on the day of the event.
The field day will be hosted at the North Star Shelter (https://goo.gl/maps/JSKf4NMRqP6vVbFK8) on June 18 from 2-5 pm. We hope to see you there!
Design Seminar
Chris Ference is a designer and experimenter currently based in Rochester, New York where he studies Speculative Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and his recent work explores generative tools that can be utilized by other designers and architects to facilitate their creative workflow. You can check out his various works here: https://www.chrisference.com/
PCA Student Council is pleased to announce that he has graciously accepted our invitation to host a talk called “The New Wave of Designers”. Through this event, participants will be exposed to the growing field of speculative design. Chris will share how to discover passions and pursue a career in this forever-changing field and emphasize the importance of curiosity and observation when starting new projects, finally covering best practices for networking with professionals. We hope to see you all there!
Coding Workshops
We’re so excited to announce that PCA Youth Center will be holding a fun Coding Workshop on Saturday 12/18. This event will be split up into two different groups: a Scratch coding workshop for beginners (using block coding) and a tutorial for bots on Discord directed towards more experienced coders (using JavaScript). Each group will also have time to work on an individual project at the end. If you’re interested in or want to learn more about coding, then this event is definitely for you!
Chess Tournament
PCA Youth Center will be holding their very first chess tournament! If you like chess, come join the games!
There’s no age restriction for the kids participating. The tournament structure can be flexible depending on the number of participants to create a fair and fun experience.
The games will be played through https://www.chess.com, so if you don’t have a chess.com account, please create one before the tournament.
Date: Saturday, November 13th
Time: 1:30 PM
Meditation Event
Are you interested in meditation, or perhaps learning more about it? Well, you’re in luck, because the PCA Youth Center Student Council is planning on hosting a meditation event with speaker Eric Chen. Meditation is something that anybody can pick up and can prove useful as a way to combat stress, especially for students throughout the school year. Below is a message from Eric:
“My name is Eric Chen, a 17 year old who lives in Los Angeles, California. I am a senior at Quartz Hill High School in the IB program. I aspire to study psychology and pursue the career of a psychotherapist because I am passionate about helping others find happiness.
Since last July, I began meditating for 20 minutes every day. After a while, I found it greatly beneficial to my life as a whole. My academic performance has been top-notch and my emotional well-being has significantly improved due to the stress-relieving effects of mindfulness and meditation.
Seeing as my friends were struggling with anxiety, depression, and much more, I decided to start a meditation group in February to help my peers. This was very well received by the school’s teachers and administration. Every Friday, I taught them how to meditate and manage their stress with useful skills. Many group members have given me positive feedback and felt that they had developed a lifelong ability to help overcome the challenges life throws at them, especially during a global pandemic. These skills, backed up by science, contribute to better quality of life and overall happiness.
I will be delighted to share these skills and experiences with you and your family through a meeting on Zoom. You’re welcome to drop by for an informative and enjoyable afternoon.”
Date: Saturday, October 23rd
Time: 2:00 PM
Breakout Room V.2
A year ago we hosted a breakout room event themed “Corona crisis”. This time, we are introducing a new breakout event where participants get to be the bad guys, not the ones saving the world. Like before, participants will get to solve puzzles, discover clues, and accomplish tasks, but they will be much different from before. The theme will be revealed at the event, and we hope to see you there!
Date: Saturday, October 2nd
Time: 5:00-6:30 PM
2020-2021 School year
Student Council Members:
Kevin Mao, Yi-Fei Zhao, Hannah Song, Sophia Liao, Edward Mei, Iris Xia, Aaron Peng, Chennie Wang, Selena Xiao
Lunar New Year Celebration
The PCA Student Council would like to host a celebration for the Lunar New Year! We will conduct a variety of festive activities over Zoom including Chinese Paper Cutting, Origami, Cooking, and Dancing! Sign up for as many as you would like!
Date: February 14th, 2021
Schedule
2:00 pm Dancing (45 min)
- Description: This is your chance to challenge yourself with the PCA Dancing Dares! Participants will engage in rounds of fun activities, ranging from doing their favorite dances to singing an acapella! We hope to see you there!
- Grades 5 and under
- Sign up link: https://forms.gle/UHrUEo3BRQAwtvbx9
3:00 pm Origami (30 min) Origami Ox
- Description: This upcoming year will be the Year of the Ox! Learn to fold an Ox Head to celebrate the New Year!
- Materials needed
- Square Paper
- All ages
- Sign up link: https://forms.gle/JuPEBGviixjy8VzBA
3:45 pm Paper Cutting (30 min) Paper Ox Head
- Description: Participants will fold and cut an Ox head out of paper!
- Materials needed
- Square Paper
- Scissors
- All ages
- Sign up link: https://forms.gle/gtZwNQJfpN15JfV68
4:30 pm Cooking (TBD) Sharing Lunar New Year Dishes
- Description: Participants will gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and authentic Chinese dishes! If you would like to present a dish: create a dish before the event, submit it to the form, and talk about the dish at our event. Submission is not required. Feel free to attend and just listen. The PCA will create a cookbook containing all the submissions.
- All ages
- Sign up link: https://forms.gle/L5B7YodAMJ4e17846
- **Deadline for Submission Before Event: Feb. 13, 12 pm**
Shining Through the Holidays
We hope everyone is doing great toward the end of 2020! To end this year, the PCA Student Council would like to introduce our final event for the year, Shining through the Holidays. Participants will be able to share their holiday decorations with others! Take pictures of any holiday decorations around you (including but not limited to DIY decorations, a festive room, or a brightly lit yard). Submit your images here https://forms.gle/ZU3xTPkRjCcn2UsV7. The pictures will then be entered in a survey in which participants and their friends can vote on pictures based on three categories: Creativity, Popularity, and Overall Festivity! Each category winner will be awarded a $30 Amazon gift card!
Submission Period: 12/11/20 - 1/3/21
大家好！不同寻常的2020已经进入倒计时了！相信年底的假期也会不同以往，多数人将选择继续宅家PCA学生会为丰富群友的假期生活，精心策划推出“庆圣诞，迎新年之节日装饰大赛”！
参赛饰品范围不限，可以是DIY的一件玩偶；装点好的圣诞；洋溢着节日氛围的房间或是灯光闪耀的前后院......唯一要求是各种装饰必须来自参与者自家！欢迎大家拍照并上传至https://forms.gle/ZU3xTPkRjCcn2UsV7 与他人分享你们的节日装饰！
照片提交日期：12/24/2020-1/3/2021
本大赛设以下三种奖项：最佳创意装饰，最美装饰及最受欢迎装饰。每位获奖者将获得$30 Amazon礼品卡！投票方式将稍后公布，请大家继续关注PCA微信群及网站，谢谢！
Photography Show
Submissions for our photography show will be open until the end of November (11/30/20).
Our four themes are light, holidays, animals, and nature. We encourage everyone to be as creative as possible! Each participant can submit up to two photos with a title and description. These two photos can be submitted under the same theme, but it is not required that you do so.
Our judges, Mr. Xu Jian and Mr. Zhou Xin will be looking at pictures with these criteria in mind:
A. Creativity
B. Color, Lighting, Exposure, and Focus
C. Composition
D. Clarity and quality (Photo editing is permitted. However, all photographs should accurately reflect the subject matter and the scene as it appeared. Photos that have been digitally altered beyond standard optimization - including but not limited to removal of dust, cropping, reasonable adjustments to exposure, color, and contrast, etc. - will be disqualified. Photo stretch and rotation are not allowed.)
Finalists will be required to send their unedited raw photos. The top three photos from each theme/category will be chosen. The photographers of these photos will receive non-monetary prizes.
Submissions:
Photos can be submitted through this Google Form LINK
SnapShot!
SnapShot is an online seminar about street photography, aka candid photography. Learn to capture color to enhance your shots. All ages and experience levels are welcome. Unplug from devices, go outside, and capture your surroundings! =)
Date: Saturday, November 7th
Time: 2pm
Meet the Speaker
Dr. Min Sun
Dr. Sun is an oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and a senior photography enthusiast. He started shooting at the age of eight and has a number of works. He loves to capture sports, wild animals, nature, people, and weddings. Street photography is his favorite.
Portfolio: Link
2019-2020 School year
Student Council Members:
Crystal Ma, Kevin Mao, Yi-Fei Zhao, Hannah Song, Sophia Liao, Edward Mei, Iris Xia, Aaron Peng, Chennie Wang, Selena Xiao, Alicia Gu
Lost in Time Escape Room
The Coronavirus’s effects have touched all of us in every aspect, especially so socially. Since we don’t get to communicate and socialize with the world as we did before, the PCA Student Council has now organized our second online escape room to help you have some fun amidst the bored and monotonous routine of work and school. The online escape room is a game in which a team of players cooperatively discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to progress and accomplish a specific goal in a limited amount of time.
Date: Sunday, September 6th
Time: 4:30-6 pm
escape room
TriviaPOP
The PCA Student Council is excited to introduce our online Trivia Pop for everyone to attend! Learn some interesting facts and interact with others in our friendly and competitive online environment. Grades 2 to 7 are welcome! Form a team beforehand or sign up individually and we will assign you a group. Get ready to compete against other teams in rounds with different topics that consist of math, history, science, outdoors, sports, literature, and culture. There’s no need to study, it’s just a game and is based on what you already know and interesting facts you can share with everyone else. We highly encourage you to attend as it will be a blast and a great opportunity to meet new people and interact with others! We look forward to seeing you on Zoom for Trivia Pop!
Date: Saturday, August 1st
Time: 4-6:30 PM
Corona Crisis Escape Room
The Coronavirus’s effects have touched all of us in every aspect, especially so socially. Since we don’t get to communicate and socialize with the world as we did before, the PCA Student Council has now organized our first-ever online escape room to help you have some fun amidst the bored and monotonous routine of work and school. The online escape room is a game in which a team of players cooperatively discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to progress and accomplish a specific goal in a limited amount of time.
Date: Sunday, May 10th
Time: 3:30-6 pm
4th grade and up escape room
3rd grade and under escape room
Pittsburgh Online YouTuber Program
5/18/20-8/23/20
Our PCA Online YouTuber Program is focused on giving everyone an opportunity to learn something new or explore new interests through our many available free classes taught by willing volunteers with passions for what they are teaching.
Topics include but are not limited to:
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Music
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Science
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History (American, European, War, etc.)
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Reading
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Book Club
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Lego
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Geography Club
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Fashion Club
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Shakespeare Club
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Knitting Club
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Trivia/Game
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Craft/Home Decoration
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Mental Health
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Coding
If you would like to apply to the Online YouTuber Program, please fill out this form.
