Hello, and welcome to the website of Simply Savant, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has and will continue to service members of the youth in our communities.
Songs For Souls: Benefit Concert for Japan & Simply Savant, June 18, 2011
http://blog.angryasianman.com/2011/06/songs-for-souls-benefit-concert-june-18.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43pWzA6CBvg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw_xx7DO74c
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=218124241538533
http://simplysavant.ticketbud.com/songsforsouls
http://www.janelui.com/node/393
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43pWzA6CBvg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw_xx7DO74c
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=218124241538533
http://simplysavant.ticketbud.com/songsforsouls
http://www.janelui.com/node/393
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Here are a few publications we have been in:
Simply Savant in the Singtao Daily Newspaper (English Translation):
Simple Savant, Nonprofit Organization Donates Libraries.
Four members of Simply savant, a nonprofit organization, Jane Liu (Tianyu), Nicole Clark, David Liu, Michelle Tan, on April 24th donated a library to the Boys and Girls Club of Whittier. They've received lot of gratitude from students and director of the Boys and Girl's club. Simply Savant is a nonprofit organization run by students. They promote academic excellence and help kids develop the interest to read. Members clean and organize their used books, at the same time ask friends and other students to collect books. All together, they've donated to public schools, primary schools, clubs, community centers, over 20 locations all over Southern California. Representatives from Simply Savant talked with the directors of clubs, (Samantha Ridout) and she said during the summer, they are trying to develop a reading program, so Simply Savant's library is extremely helpful. Simply Savant members use their own recycled money to buy bookshelves, and members built each library themselves. Jane said, "Simply Savant provided a platform where all the members can use all their abilities. Building libraries not only increase self development, but also increase teamwork. It is a way to share resources and books. Doing so gives us a chance to give back to the society and be useful."
Simple Savant, Nonprofit Organization Donates Libraries.
Four members of Simply savant, a nonprofit organization, Jane Liu (Tianyu), Nicole Clark, David Liu, Michelle Tan, on April 24th donated a library to the Boys and Girls Club of Whittier. They've received lot of gratitude from students and director of the Boys and Girl's club. Simply Savant is a nonprofit organization run by students. They promote academic excellence and help kids develop the interest to read. Members clean and organize their used books, at the same time ask friends and other students to collect books. All together, they've donated to public schools, primary schools, clubs, community centers, over 20 locations all over Southern California. Representatives from Simply Savant talked with the directors of clubs, (Samantha Ridout) and she said during the summer, they are trying to develop a reading program, so Simply Savant's library is extremely helpful. Simply Savant members use their own recycled money to buy bookshelves, and members built each library themselves. Jane said, "Simply Savant provided a platform where all the members can use all their abilities. Building libraries not only increase self development, but also increase teamwork. It is a way to share resources and books. Doing so gives us a chance to give back to the society and be useful."
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Simply Savant in World Journal (English Translation):
Since the government cut school budgets, many had canceled the summer classes for the year. Simply Savant, a non-profit organization formed by a group of Asian-American teenagers, started a summer camp at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Pasadena Branch. The members volunteer as teachers to help the students and parents.
Simply Savant has fourteen members. Two years ago, each member who came from different high schools such as San Gabriel, Arcadia, San Dimas, Claremont, San Bernardino, Chino Hills, and so on, started this summer camp and volunteered as teachers for the non-profit organization, The Boys and Girls Club.
Since his sister is in this group, Peter Leung joined and helped to organize the group.
‘This organization has already been prepared for a year. From fundraising, choosing courses, and selecting textbooks, to creating an entire curriculum, all the members put their best efforts into the group.Three months before the summer camp, group members spent all of their weekends to discuss and rehearse the techniques to teach.’ said Peter.
‘The textbooks and the materials for the summer camp are provided by Simply Savant for free,’ said Nicole Clark, the Public Relations Chair. They started fundraising by doing car washes, TV tapings, garage sales, recycling, and for an entire year. They have fundraised more than ten thousand dollars to start the summer camp.
‘There are about thirty students in this camp, from sixth graders to ninth graders. By having them take placement tests, we separated the students into Class A and B to benefit the students. At the same time, for those who want to learn the science, we started chemistry and biology classes. In the afternoon, we have P.E. and art classes.’ Said Russell Wang, one of the volunteer teachers.
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Simply Savant in the Pasadena Star News:
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/education/ci_12490875
High school students create summer camp program
By Robert S. Hong, Staff WriterPosted: 05/31/2009 04:22:40 PM PDT
A group of teenagers help make a library for a summer camp for the Boy and Girls Club in Pasadena, in the parking lot of the Boys and Girls Club of Pasadena, Saturday morning, May 23, 2009. (Correspondent photo by James Carbone)PASADENA - With a goal to create opportunities for underprivileged youth, a group of local teens will embark on a scholarly mission this summer. Simply Savant, a philanthropic group founded by high school students from around the San Gabriel Valley, will host an educational summer camp for members of the Pasadena Boys and Girls Club Slavic branch this year.
"We started off as a little group - we're all friends - and we got together and came up with ideas to help out some kids," said Amy Zhang, 17, of Harvard West Lake school. "We started out doing some fundraising, and came up with the idea for a camp."
The students have created a full curriculum of English, math and science, plus field trips, said group member Jenny Chang. The camp will be free low- to moderate-income families, he said.
Months of fundraising and hours of curriculum planning went into the process, said Chang. And the summer camp is only the beginning. The teens have set aside a portion of their donations to collect hundreds of books to give the children at the club something to read, she said.They spent a recent Saturday stacking the shelves with with the children, putting together a library. They plan to do the same at 49 more Boys and Girls Club branches before they are finished."We can reach out a hand and we can help little kids, it's what we like to do," said Tiffany Leung, 15, of Arcadia High. "What good is it to benefit only yourself, it's better to be of benefit to other people."
robert.hong@sgvn.com(626) 578-6300 Ext. 4586
High school students create summer camp program
By Robert S. Hong, Staff WriterPosted: 05/31/2009 04:22:40 PM PDT
A group of teenagers help make a library for a summer camp for the Boy and Girls Club in Pasadena, in the parking lot of the Boys and Girls Club of Pasadena, Saturday morning, May 23, 2009. (Correspondent photo by James Carbone)PASADENA - With a goal to create opportunities for underprivileged youth, a group of local teens will embark on a scholarly mission this summer. Simply Savant, a philanthropic group founded by high school students from around the San Gabriel Valley, will host an educational summer camp for members of the Pasadena Boys and Girls Club Slavic branch this year.
"We started off as a little group - we're all friends - and we got together and came up with ideas to help out some kids," said Amy Zhang, 17, of Harvard West Lake school. "We started out doing some fundraising, and came up with the idea for a camp."
The students have created a full curriculum of English, math and science, plus field trips, said group member Jenny Chang. The camp will be free low- to moderate-income families, he said.
Months of fundraising and hours of curriculum planning went into the process, said Chang. And the summer camp is only the beginning. The teens have set aside a portion of their donations to collect hundreds of books to give the children at the club something to read, she said.They spent a recent Saturday stacking the shelves with with the children, putting together a library. They plan to do the same at 49 more Boys and Girls Club branches before they are finished."We can reach out a hand and we can help little kids, it's what we like to do," said Tiffany Leung, 15, of Arcadia High. "What good is it to benefit only yourself, it's better to be of benefit to other people."
robert.hong@sgvn.com(626) 578-6300 Ext. 4586
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Simply Savant in the Eastern Group Publications:
http://egpnews.com/?p=19776
By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer
This summer students are jumping up and down, not because school is out, but because they think they’ve got the right answer to Ms. Belinda’s math problem.
“It’s four, it’s four!!” shouts a student trying to get the teacher’s attention. Belinda Cheng is not your typical teacher. In fact, she’s not much older than her sixth through ninth grade students, and also on summer break. Cheng, 17, attends Mark Keppel High School and is one of 30 members of the student-run non-profit service club Simply Savant. Their club is dedicated to “academic excellence,” according to the club’s 17-year old president, Jane Liu. Simply Savant’s biggest project to date is Camp Savant, an academic summer camp held at five different Boys & Girls clubs around the San Gabriel Valley “We just learned some of this stuff ourselves,” Liu says of how they came up with the lesson plans for subjects such as English, math, science, and even dance. On a recent camp day, students learned about literary devices such as “irony,” wrote in their journals, and reviewed “math-tastic exponents.” The subjects depend on what the members can contribute. Last year, the camp also offered physical education and art, Liu said. Liu says Simply Savant is unlike most other high school clubs which usually just raise money and hand it off to a charity, though they do as many charity fundraisers as they can. They also hold frequent, if not weekly, fundraisers for their own activities and can come up with as much as $500 a month.
In high school there are plenty of service clubs, but not many “actually go out there and do stuff,” Liu says. “It’s the interaction with people that’s important.”Simply Savant members dedicate time during the summer to the Monday through Friday classes at Camp Savant. They often get to the Boys & Girls club at 8 am and work into the night on lesson plans, Liu says, all the while juggling their own summer studies and SAT prep classes. Simply Savant’s projects don’t seem like things people her age would be interested in doing during their summer break, but Liu says when she tells her friends about it, “they become amazed.” Aside from two advisors who don’t get too involved in their day-to-day activities and a lawyer to work out the “legal stuff,” she says high school students run everything at Camp Savant.
Liu says if it were not for the club, she would “just be sitting around at home doing nothing” this summer. Liu says the members decided to publish their own lesson plan book, with plans for a second edition next summer. They did not have a lesson plan the first year and things were a little “chaotic,” Liu explains. At the end of camp last year, the club gave out $75 scholarships to students who exhibited “academic excellence and endurance.” When they first started Simply Savant, members invited a teacher to give them tips on how to teach and command respect from young students. Some of the club’s freshman and sophomore members are “fairly immature themselves, but after they start teaching, they learn that they have to step up as leaders,” Liu says.
The teachers’ youth is a strength, Liu says. One student, ten-year old Kayla Collins, said her favorite teacher is science teacher Bronte Yang, who conducted an explosive demonstration by dunking a Mentos, a mint-flavored candy, into a can of soda. Liu says many of the camp’s students from last year came back because they enjoyed getting ahead on subjects before they are taught in school.
During the school year, Simply Savant members, from high schools in Alhambra, San Marino, Arcadia and Pomona focus on building libraries for anyone who needs them. “We provide the labor,” Liu says. They also go door to door asking for book donations, fundraise to purchase some of the books themselves, and buy ready-to-assemble bookshelves at Wal-Mart and Big-Lots. They started with Boys & Girls Clubs, including the East Los Angeles and Salesian branches, then moved on to preschools and elementary schools, community and education centers, and childcare facilities. Since they started the project, they have completed 20 libraries and donated 3000 books, according to Liu.
Simply Savant members often cite the feedback and gratitude they receive for their work, as well as the relationships they develop with each other and those they help, as the reasons that keep them going. Cheng says she enjoys teaching at Camp Savant because of the bond she develops with her students, especially when she finds her own life experiences reflected in the students’ lives. “You’re not just a teacher, you can relate to them and how they feel,” she says.
July 29, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer
This summer students are jumping up and down, not because school is out, but because they think they’ve got the right answer to Ms. Belinda’s math problem.
“It’s four, it’s four!!” shouts a student trying to get the teacher’s attention. Belinda Cheng is not your typical teacher. In fact, she’s not much older than her sixth through ninth grade students, and also on summer break. Cheng, 17, attends Mark Keppel High School and is one of 30 members of the student-run non-profit service club Simply Savant. Their club is dedicated to “academic excellence,” according to the club’s 17-year old president, Jane Liu. Simply Savant’s biggest project to date is Camp Savant, an academic summer camp held at five different Boys & Girls clubs around the San Gabriel Valley “We just learned some of this stuff ourselves,” Liu says of how they came up with the lesson plans for subjects such as English, math, science, and even dance. On a recent camp day, students learned about literary devices such as “irony,” wrote in their journals, and reviewed “math-tastic exponents.” The subjects depend on what the members can contribute. Last year, the camp also offered physical education and art, Liu said. Liu says Simply Savant is unlike most other high school clubs which usually just raise money and hand it off to a charity, though they do as many charity fundraisers as they can. They also hold frequent, if not weekly, fundraisers for their own activities and can come up with as much as $500 a month.
In high school there are plenty of service clubs, but not many “actually go out there and do stuff,” Liu says. “It’s the interaction with people that’s important.”Simply Savant members dedicate time during the summer to the Monday through Friday classes at Camp Savant. They often get to the Boys & Girls club at 8 am and work into the night on lesson plans, Liu says, all the while juggling their own summer studies and SAT prep classes. Simply Savant’s projects don’t seem like things people her age would be interested in doing during their summer break, but Liu says when she tells her friends about it, “they become amazed.” Aside from two advisors who don’t get too involved in their day-to-day activities and a lawyer to work out the “legal stuff,” she says high school students run everything at Camp Savant.
Liu says if it were not for the club, she would “just be sitting around at home doing nothing” this summer. Liu says the members decided to publish their own lesson plan book, with plans for a second edition next summer. They did not have a lesson plan the first year and things were a little “chaotic,” Liu explains. At the end of camp last year, the club gave out $75 scholarships to students who exhibited “academic excellence and endurance.” When they first started Simply Savant, members invited a teacher to give them tips on how to teach and command respect from young students. Some of the club’s freshman and sophomore members are “fairly immature themselves, but after they start teaching, they learn that they have to step up as leaders,” Liu says.
The teachers’ youth is a strength, Liu says. One student, ten-year old Kayla Collins, said her favorite teacher is science teacher Bronte Yang, who conducted an explosive demonstration by dunking a Mentos, a mint-flavored candy, into a can of soda. Liu says many of the camp’s students from last year came back because they enjoyed getting ahead on subjects before they are taught in school.
During the school year, Simply Savant members, from high schools in Alhambra, San Marino, Arcadia and Pomona focus on building libraries for anyone who needs them. “We provide the labor,” Liu says. They also go door to door asking for book donations, fundraise to purchase some of the books themselves, and buy ready-to-assemble bookshelves at Wal-Mart and Big-Lots. They started with Boys & Girls Clubs, including the East Los Angeles and Salesian branches, then moved on to preschools and elementary schools, community and education centers, and childcare facilities. Since they started the project, they have completed 20 libraries and donated 3000 books, according to Liu.
Simply Savant members often cite the feedback and gratitude they receive for their work, as well as the relationships they develop with each other and those they help, as the reasons that keep them going. Cheng says she enjoys teaching at Camp Savant because of the bond she develops with her students, especially when she finds her own life experiences reflected in the students’ lives. “You’re not just a teacher, you can relate to them and how they feel,” she says.
July 29, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
News Release: The Citizen's Voice
http://thecitizensvoice.net/?p=561
Letter to the Editor Posted by Nancy Arcuri on 6/17/09 • Categorized as Articles
Dear Editor,
Hi, name is Amy and I am a high-school junior attending Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood. I think my friend Jennie contacted you already about Simply Savant and it’s goal this year to create camp and build a library, and she told me to email you the specifics, so here it is! A few years ago my friends from various high-schools and I established a nonprofit organization to provide aid to those in need of help and to provide higher education for those who aren’t as lucky as we are. We call ourselves “Simply Savant” and since then have participated as well as organized various fundraising and community service events.
Our most important project this year is a camp. This summer my friends and I plan to open up a non-profit camp for kids less fortunate than us to have an opportunity to learn. Split into 2 sessions, each 3 weeks long, it will begin in late June and end in early August. Camp Savant will be supported by the Boys and Girls Club of Pasadena and will be completely planned and organized by our group. Every Sunday, we meet to discuss funding issues, the curriculum and handbook, the admissions process, everything that will make this dream a reality. Simply Savant’s members will be responsible for teaching the students about 3 different core classes as well as a few extracurricular activities. Camp Savant will be open to students from grades six through nine and will include the three A’s: academics, arts and athletics. The camp will be held in the Boys and Girls Club facilities.
At the same time, we are also fundraising and collecting books from our respective communities to build a library on the Boys and Girls Club campus. So far, we have raised money through garage sales, TV Taping, and restaurant fundraising programs. The money we receive goes toward purchasing supplies for the libraries bookshelves, paint, books…etc. We hope to finish our first library by the end of this month. On May 23 Simply Savant is going to build its very first library in Pasadena with the help of kids from the Boys and Girls Club. Our goal is to build a total of 50 libraries in southern California. It would be an enormous contribution to our cause if your newspaper could help us to spread the news. Any amount of information that can give interested parents a heads-up about the camp or let people know about our library and need of book donations would be wonderful! Thank you very much for your time and if you have any questions, please ask!
Sincerely,
Amy Zhang
Letter to the Editor Posted by Nancy Arcuri on 6/17/09 • Categorized as Articles
Dear Editor,
Hi, name is Amy and I am a high-school junior attending Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood. I think my friend Jennie contacted you already about Simply Savant and it’s goal this year to create camp and build a library, and she told me to email you the specifics, so here it is! A few years ago my friends from various high-schools and I established a nonprofit organization to provide aid to those in need of help and to provide higher education for those who aren’t as lucky as we are. We call ourselves “Simply Savant” and since then have participated as well as organized various fundraising and community service events.
Our most important project this year is a camp. This summer my friends and I plan to open up a non-profit camp for kids less fortunate than us to have an opportunity to learn. Split into 2 sessions, each 3 weeks long, it will begin in late June and end in early August. Camp Savant will be supported by the Boys and Girls Club of Pasadena and will be completely planned and organized by our group. Every Sunday, we meet to discuss funding issues, the curriculum and handbook, the admissions process, everything that will make this dream a reality. Simply Savant’s members will be responsible for teaching the students about 3 different core classes as well as a few extracurricular activities. Camp Savant will be open to students from grades six through nine and will include the three A’s: academics, arts and athletics. The camp will be held in the Boys and Girls Club facilities.
At the same time, we are also fundraising and collecting books from our respective communities to build a library on the Boys and Girls Club campus. So far, we have raised money through garage sales, TV Taping, and restaurant fundraising programs. The money we receive goes toward purchasing supplies for the libraries bookshelves, paint, books…etc. We hope to finish our first library by the end of this month. On May 23 Simply Savant is going to build its very first library in Pasadena with the help of kids from the Boys and Girls Club. Our goal is to build a total of 50 libraries in southern California. It would be an enormous contribution to our cause if your newspaper could help us to spread the news. Any amount of information that can give interested parents a heads-up about the camp or let people know about our library and need of book donations would be wonderful! Thank you very much for your time and if you have any questions, please ask!
Sincerely,
Amy Zhang
Simply Savant in World Journal
