BranchOut! hosted a picnic to celebrate the end of a successful summer on Saturday, September 10th at the Cabin John Regional Park in Bethesda, Maryland. About 60 people attended the event, where our attendees not only got to taste the delicious food, but also got to network and bond as a team. We were especially glad that many of BranchOut!’s Howard County Chapter (HoCo) student mentors were able to attend this event, which is the first social event we have had since the pan

BranchOut! has been serving the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) since the summer of 2017 by working as TAs and tutors to support its Summer Credit Recovery Program. One of our first FCPS schools was Justice High School in Falls Church, Virginia, where BranchOut! student mentors learned valuable life skills about how to tutor and connect with students from a variety of backgrounds. The vice principal at Justice High School, Mrs. Vandawalker was excited to see “students he

To thank our mentors for their hard work this summer, BranchOut! is hosting a potluck-style Fall Picnic to provide a fun opportunity for mentors to meet each other in person and network. BranchOut! alumni as well as parents/family members and friends are welcome to join this event. The BranchOut! Fall Picnic information Date: Saturday, September 10th, 2022 (rain or shine!) Time: 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM Location: Cabin John Regional Park: 7400 Tuckerman LN, Bethesda, MD, 20817 at

Phoebe Wang is a rising 10th grader at Dominion High School. This summer, she was a part of the BranchOut! x Pohick STEAM Program and The Explorer. At her first Pohick session, the students made popsicle stick bridges and created objects out of paper, like origami and paper airplanes. The kids were loud and energetic and Phoebe learned to connect with them by asking about their interests, hobbies, and favorite animals. Throughout her time mentoring, Phoebe learned how to inte

About 15 students from BranchOut! attended the 2022 United Chinese American (UCA) Convention in DC, which took place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel from July 14-16. The convention attracted 600+ attendees from 40+ states, which allowed our students to branch out and interact with people from a wide range of backgrounds. Convention attendees learned about leadership, networking, diplomacy, and political affairs from various community leaders. BranchOut! students were especially gl

“They loved the friendly competition and that they could bring home their STEM creations!” “When’s the next session? My child had so much fun and came home with her tower yesterday!” “I wish this was everyday!” BranchOut!'s inaugural STEM summer program at the Pohick Regional Library took place on Saturday, July 16, 2022 and continued until August 13, 2022. We were so happy to receive positive feedback from our Pohick families! The planning of the Pohick program began earlier

I specifically remember a situation with two kids. Kid A always raised his hand to answer questions, excelled at the activities, and was relatively quiet. I saw my younger self in Kid A. KidB, on the other hand, was loud, wasn't afraid of being bold, and sometimes even looked bored of the activities. Kid B accidentally pushed over Kid A's toothpick tower when he was playing with it. My first instinct was to reprimand Kid B as I felt terrible towards Kid A with his broken towe

On Saturday, November 14th, we had our 2020 BranchOut! Celebration and Open House Event, commemorating the 5th year anniversary of BranchOut! and the hard work our mentors have done over the past summer! We heard from inspirational speakers, Ms. Melody Curtiss, Mr. Ryan McElveen, Dr. Paul Li, Dr. Yuhsien Wu, Eric Lin, Songhan Pang, Anshu Sharma, Austin Zhang, & Kevina Wang, and saw amazing performances by Natya Margam Dance Group, Maddilynn Ra, Rick Yoon, & Lily Walters. Here

Tony Lodge shared his inspirational story from Homeless to Capitol Hill. As an aged-out foster child, Tony was homeless throughout college a

Recently, Black Lives Matter has been trending in the news and media. I had a simple understanding of it, but I still wasn’t confident. I saw people get backlash for saying “all lives matter”, and I didn’t want to say anything inappropriate like that. So, in a desire to learn more and increase awareness of our local Black Lives Matter community, I interviewed Makeba Scott Hunter, a concerned mother and Black Lives Matter advocate from Herndon. She recently attended 3 separate