TACL’s 2015 National Convention took place in New York over Labor Day weekend – hosted by TAP-NY (current Board and alumni), and it was a fun-filled TACL Family get-together with too many stories and #FOMO moments for those who missed it.  Thanks to all the programs & chapters & friends of TACL who came out: GLO, ITASA, LYF, PIP, TAP-Austin, TAP-Atlanta, TAP-Boston, TAP-DC, TAP-LA, TAP-NY, TAP-San Diego, TAP-San Francisco, TAP-Seattle.

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The theme this year was “Our Next Chapter,” as we marked TACL’s 30th Anniversary and prepare to embark on our next triple decade of success.  During Convention, we

  • explored our Asian American identity and discussed ways we felt limited by our Asian American heritage; then we popped those setbacks – gaining strength through each other to overcome hindrances as a community;

  • discovered commonalities we had as a group by building a complexly weaved web of togetherness;

  • helped out each other’s programs by brainstorming solutions to problems various Presidents have encountered;

  • identified the composition of our respective Boards and built adorable “monsters” to help us understand where each Board could use more support;

  • tested our athleticism, math skills, paper airplane-making skills, size of our mouths and many other odd things at TAP Olympics;

  • thanked each other for a wonderful weekend of fun & bonding and hand-delivered “love letters” to everyone’s mailboxes (if you didn’t get a chance to hand-deliver a letter, please feel free to write a thank-you email and show some TACL love!!)

The Convention culminated in our TACL 30th Anniversary Gala, which was an evening of glitz, glam and splendor.  We heard a keynote speech from former TACL contributor John Liu (former NYC Comptroller and first Asian American to be elected to city-wide office in NYC), met tennis champion Vania King and listened to the soulful performance from Treya – stunning Taiwanese American luminaries lit up the evening.

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For pictures, check out the album on TAP-NY’s Facebook Page.

Many thanks to all our sponsors and supporters for the Convention weekend and the Gala.  We couldn’t have done it without you: Amerasia Bank, STUF United Fund, The Hwang Foundation, Chio Tian USA, Formosa Plastics Corporation USA, OneRx, Passport to Taiwan, WanJaShan International, Bloomingdale’s, EVA Airlines, TECO-NY and Little Oaklets.

Other notable moments: taking over Circle on a Friday evening; karaoke on Saturday night; karaoke on Sunday night; Jacqui’s surprise engagement!!; halal guys for lunch.

Looking forward to our Midterm Conference during MLK Weekend in Atlanta!! Right now, I will just continue to experience my Convention Withdrawal. #LifeTA