Sherry Yu - Silver Award

School: Robert Gray Middle School
Category: Kids (5-10 years old)
Hours: 63

My name is Sherry Yu, and I am a proud member of the Oregon Chinese Coalition. Im 11 years old and this is my first year with OCC. In my spare time, I love volunteering, practicing new tricks on my Diablo, getting involved, folding origami, and refining my art skills!

Another thing about me is I am on the Dragonfly yo-yo team, where we practice tricks and improve our skills on the Diablo. One reason I love being on this team is because of the cultural events we get to perform at! Wherever we go, there is always an audience or something interesting to do. Another thing I like about performing is knowing Im spreading Chinese tradition and culture to others. Chinese yo-yo can easily represent many different Chinese traditions which makes me proud because to me, learning about different cultures and traditions is important in our understanding of each other and the acknowledgment and recognition of various communities.

As I said, I love volunteering, so some places I have volunteered/performed at include the Oregon Zoo, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Milwaukee Community Center, Pioneer Square, Twality Middle School, Lake Ridge High School, PSU Farmers Market, and Jenkins Estate Park. I had a lot of fun volunteering!

I am very grateful for the opportunities to share my cultures traditions with others. With each performance, I learned more about other cultures, traditions, and heritages, while also learning about myself.

Oregon Chinese Coalition is proud to join the President of the United States in recognizing the volunteers who consistently take the time to make a difference in the lives of others. Therefore, it is a great honor to present the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) to Sherry Yu.