CBE hosted its first Virtual BYR (BCA Youth Retreat) Middle School Event on April 24, attracting nearly 40 students from throughout the West Coast.
Sixth- through eighth-graders were invited to join in the online event and the students came from Northern California, Southern California, the Bay Area, Washington, and Oregon. I was so pleased by the enthusiastic participation from all of the participants.
The event began with the service conducted by the BYR staff, followed by a Dharma talk from Kayla Itagaki.
We then featured a wonderful video interview that I conducted with Cathy Ang, who is the star of the animated Netflix film, "Over The Moon." She was kind enough to join me via Zoom from New York, where she is living.
She shared a bit about her life, and gave us some inspiring messages about following one's passion and never giving up. This was followed by workshops facilitated by past BYR high school participants. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the BYR staff that worked so hard in preparing for this event.
Thank you, Grace Matayoshi, Ben Yoshida, Kayla Itagaki, Emily Sarashina, Natalie Osako, Ellie Mizushima, Molly Maseba, and Kianna Nakaoka for the time and effort you dedicated to making this a fun and meaningful experience.
It was just as much fun preparing and creating the content for our event with the BYR staff as it was hosting the actual event.
I look forward to gathering with everyone in person again someday soon. Please keep an eye out for more events and programs for the youth. Our BYR High School Summer Program is open for registration, so please check that out on the BCA website under "events." Thank you all for your continued support of BCA youth programs.