Alumni are individuals who have ever served on cabinet, either as a chair, officer, or both. With their spirit and determination, they have carried AAA through the years to where it is now. Here's a list of all the former cabinets and the inspiring alumni that served on them.

Blurbs

John Mark Tadena

I was drawn to AAA because of a program, and former committee called Project S.M.I.L.E., which was created and developed by some of the founders of AAA back in 1999. Project S.M.I.L.E. brought a lot into AAA and vice versa. I did not officially join AAA until Fall 2008 when I was part of S.M.I.L.E. committee/board. Before then I was an avid driver for both AAA Families and S.M.I.L.E. Before joining S.M.I.L.E. Board I had been mentoring for almost two years, and I met many AAA people through mentoring, whether they were just another committee members for AAA or a cabinet member. Through these people I heard a lot about what AAA did and was somewhat intrigued by their activities. Being one of the few Filipinos in AAA, I have learned a great deal about many other Asian cultures. It has been a very wholesome experience for me and I continued to actively participate in AAA, even after my Project S.M.I.L.E. chair and Chief-of-Staff cabinet semesters in 2008. AAA has really changed my college experience for the better and I wouldn't trade that for anything. There is so much to be taught and so much to be learned, I wish I could tell everyone everything I've learned. I still feel the urge to join another committee, maybe a few years from now when no one know me I'll randomly go to First Gen and sign-up.


Marcus Lee

My older-brother-figure Justin Lau pulled me roughly aside by the arm as he does, and informed me, "Marcus. You're on So Comm." My response was pretty succint. "On what?" So in Spring '01 back when a guy named Noah was thinking about building a boat, I was quite literally forced to learn that there was a AAA other than the one on my speed dial to unlock my car every few weeks.

In Fall '01 I snagged the Treasurer spot and saw AAA explode from 300 members to over 1000 with Justin Hu as President. We used that growth and our times to think outside the box, and think big. We snagged a $14k budget from UCB, raised over $10k off a Halloween party for donation to New York's 9-11 victims (2001), started Project SMILE which I think is still the largest after-school mentoring program in the Bay Area, and even tried to start a AAA acappella group (ha! epic fail =P). The dynamics of the club at that time were extremely different from today, and our adventures and lessons learned reflected that. I'd just like to say for the record, do NOT completely cover a random car on the corner of Telegraph and Bancroft with a thousand AAA Freakfest flyers.

But like many others have said, the fun memories and the community benefit is important but it's not the most valuable part. Ten years later, most of my closest friends are still from the club. When I talk to Jon Fong, Aaron Ellis, Justin Hu, Kristine Lee, etc we don't discuss how each of us were at one point or another Presidents or VP's, we talk about where we're going on Friday night or who just passed the Bar or who's starting their residency. When I talk to Benson Wu, one of my excited little freshman kids when I was a AAA dad, we don't talk about how he started Techno, we talk about his engagement.

AAA and UCB can make a unique marker in your life. Don't be afraid to make huge mistakes (I made my fair share!), crazy plans, and a good friendship or two.
Take it from Grandpa Marcus, it all works out in the end. =)

~M


Karen Sein

I joined AAA my freshman year in Spring 2003, with my dorm hall mate and good friend, Jonathan Lee, who later "grew up" in the club with me in the subsequent years. I had a great time as a PR committee member under Kristine Lee as Chair and in my first family, with Duc-Uy Quang-Dang as my dad! The following semester (the infamous Fall '03 where all the chairs died) I became PR Chair and started the "shameless" PR tradition. I decided to stretch my skills in other ways as Internal Vice President in Spring '04 and then was extremely proud to become President in Fall '04. Don't ask me what it was like to be Chair, IVP or President back in the day, because I honestly don't remember the details (or my mind has blacked out those somewhat traumatic experiences). What I do recall probably isn't even relevant anymore. There are two main things that I think are important to share is that I made amazing friends and learned a great deal about myself as a leader, which are things that I will always carry that with me always.

I think as you go through all the drama and the stress, try to step back and realize that many years from now all of that won't matter. At the core of my AAA experience was that I met people that I really care about and respect. The friends I made in AAA stuck with me and supported me during really hard times during and after college. These are people I know I can trust and count on for the rest of my life.

Secondly, I think you can't underestimate how powerful AAA can be as a springboard to develop yourself as a leader, especially in the Asian American community. We're lucky to be in a unique environment at Berkeley where Asians are a large majority of the population, but in the larger society that is not true. Take this opportunity-- where you have resources, support, and network to enable you to stretch and make mistakes faultlessly-- to figure out the kind of person you want to be for your community. Think about the impact you want to make and how you can help others be successful as you lead them. I really do credit AAA for shaping in large part how I view leadership and have since applied these lessons to everything I've done since. After AAA, I lead the Health and Medical Apprenticeship Program and wrote an honors thesis about mental health issues in Asian American college students (naturally, inspired by my experiences in AAA!). After graduating from Cal with a major in public health in 2006, I worked at Kaiser Permanente for three years. Now I'm at Harvard Business School for my MBA, and I will be graduating in 2011 (and yes, I did write about AAA in my application essays).

Enjoy your time in AAA and at Cal and Go Bears!


Kevin Kim

My name is Kevin Kim, Class of 2004, Go Bears. I recently graduated from Loyola Law School, and I was recently admitted to the California Bar. I joined AAA in my sophomore year, Fall 2001, as a HC committee member. I became HC Chair the following semester and had some of your esteemed alumni as my committee members including Katie Kondo and Tuyen Nguyen. The following semester I became Internal Vice President under Aaron Ellis as President, and the following semester I was Chief of Staff. After that, I parented for 3 semesters, with several kids who went on to become prominent leaders of AAA. The only person you might know is Andrew Fung. I don't know what kind of information or stories have been passed around about me, but I loved AAA until the end of my college years. My dedication for AAA was to the extent that I risked arrest and my academic career many times for the sake of the club.
AAA is a part of my life no matter how old i get. Nearing 30, I still hold dear the pletheora of valuable skills AAA taught me, these range from professional to personal skills. But ultimately, AAA is all about the people. At the end of the day, it's not about the committees, or the events, but really its the fact that AAA brings people together and leaves you with life long friends. Some of my closest friends today are my fellow cabinet and committee members.
The last time I was exposed to AAA was two years ago when I was invited to speak at a committee banquet. That time, I saw a lot of young and eager faces, new to the whole experience, and I knew that they would have a blast and make some awesome friends.
I wish your cabinet the best, and I hope to hear from others soon.
Sincerely,
Kevin Kim, Esq.


Jonathan Lee

"Freakfest? Sounds kind of shady to me Karen." Yes, that was my first generalization of AAA when my floormate, and now, wonderful friend of mine, Karen Sein told me about AAA. So we end up going to Oakland to this Halloween dance and it was packed! I had a chance to mingle with some people, dance the night away, make myself look like a fool and probably lost 5 lbs of water weight. As we were waiting for shuttles back to Berkeley, a hulking 6 foot+ behemoth was directing people to the buses, thanking all for coming out, and bellowing a "you don't have to go home, but you gotta get the [insert word of your choice here] out" roar. Then the shadowy figure, whom interestingly enough was dressed as a nimble martial artist, approached us (Karen, Kevin Lee, and the rest of our floormates). As his colossal footsteps came closer, I for sure thought I was never going to make it to Chem 1A Monday morning.

In a surprising, cheery voice, "Hey guys, did you have fun?" He then gives a thumbs up and emulates the grin of the Cheshire Cat.

I almost lost another pound of water weight...Kevin Kim, later became one of my inspirations for me being as active as I was in the club.

The following semester, I decided to become active within AAA, joined SoComm and had a blast. It was refreshing being able to go out and meet new faces, be a part of a larger community, and have the ownership to host a few events for all of Berkeley and AAA to attend. Plus, it beat sitting in Unit 3 playing Diablo II and NBA 2K3...and yes, I said NBA 2K3. I became eager to be more active throughout the course of the semester and was given the position of Social Chair in Fall 2003.

That semester, I also had a wonderful opportunity to be apart of Project S.M.I.L.E., formerly one of the committees in AAA. In Spring 2004 I was appointed Chief-of-Staff and enjoyed a few semesters of being on S.M.I.L.E. board before becoming Head Coordinator in Spring 2006. Finally in 2006, I was given the prestigious honor to be appointed Fall 2006's President.

Every person's growth in AAA will be different and there's beauty in that. The club is built on the foundation of being able to have fun and relax from the studies curriculum at Berkeley. At the same time, there's a wealth of knowledge to be gained from the club if' you're willing to put yourself out there. The awkward "comfort zone" training, meetings with campus officials and other student groups, and late night logistic planning are all skills I've been able to practice during my time as a committee member and chair. There's no better time to train and develop that experience, while in school in a supportive environment to learn with. I guarantee that all alumni agree AAA has helped their development as a professional in their workplace or advanced education; think about that when cabinet applications roll out.

Furthermore, AAA has given me a network of friends that I hold near and dear to my heart. Many of the people I had the opportunity to serve on cabinets with are still in close communication with me, and the times we do meet up are always filled with stories and memories of the club. Best of all, all these moments have been chronicled by our AAA DVD!

To this day, I'm still in constant communication with at least one of the cabinet members and love hearing the successful and stressful situations of AAA. I know for a fact that if I showed up to an event without anyone knowing who I am, I'd still be welcomed to the club with open arms; that's the community we build in AAA.

Spring 2010

Fall 2009

Spring 2009

Fall 2008

Spring 2008

Fall 2007

Spring 2007

Fall 2006

Spring 2006

Fall 2005

Spring 2005

Fall 2004

Spring 2004

Fall 2003

Spring 2003

Fall 2002

Spring 2002

Fall 2001

Spring 2001

Fall 2000

Spring 2000

Fall 1999

Spring 1999

Fall 1998

Spring 1998