Youth Forum 2
Happenings 2001 - 2004
Building the Yee Family World Wide Web
Welcome to the WYC2 issue of the Yee Fung Toy Youth Forum,
covering events from 2001 to 2004 of interest to youth in the World Yee
community. We plan to bring together discussions on youth programs and
report youth
activities from associations of the Yee Fung Toy around the world.
Jim Yee
Career Workshop Program July 21, 2002
Good afternoon, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen! My name is
Jim
Yee, or uncle Jim to most of you. Welcome to the first YFT Youth
Career
Workshop. Today we have 4 professionals who will share their career and
work experience with you. The purpose of this workshop is for you :
- to get information on specific careers from professionals
working in those fields;
- to start thinking about how to decide on a career, if you
have not already done so.
I like to thank Mr. Wayne Yu for making this spacious
boardroom
available for our workshop today. Please give Wayne and Pacific Place
Financial Services a big round of applause! Wayne will be making a
presentation later as one of our featured speakers.
Before I introduce our speakers, I like to ask Mr. James Yu,
or Uncle James to most of you, the Chairman of the YFT Youth Committee,
the sponsor of this career workshop, to say a few words.
[James speaks] Thank you, James.
Whatever career you decide on, you will find that you need to
do well in school in order to get accepted for specialized training and
education. That is why your parents, and we at the Yee Family
Association, are very concerned that you are getting a good education
in preparation for your career. If you want us to help you, I suggest
you bring us your school report. We can then see where you might need
help, if any, in improving your grades.
My plan is very simple. Within the YFT Youth Committee, we
will form a mentoring group where the High School students will help
the Elementary School students, the University students will help the
High School students, and young professionals will help University
students. Our career workshop today is the first step in implementing
that plan. We also want to make it fun. So, those of you who brought in
your school report today are getting movie passes to see Men In Black
II after this workshop. Stella will now go and buy movie tickets now
for those of you who brought in your school report. The rest of you are
welcome to join them, but you will have to buy your own tickets.
I will introduce each speaker, who will each do a 15 minute
presentation. We then take a couple of questions related to
the presentation. At the end of the 4 speakers, we will have a general
Q & A session relating to careers and career preparation in
general.
If there is interest, we will organize another workshop later
with
speakers from other careers. You can show your interest by asking lots
of questions. A lot of what you will hear will be new to you, so it is
OK to feel you do not know much about certain careers and the world of
work. I have warned the speakers to expect a lot of "dumb" questions.
So if you do not understand something that you are curious about, ask
your question any way. You may find the question is not so dumb after
all. You can also let us know later what other careers you would like
to feature at future workshops.
Introduce Wayne Yu
Our first speaker is Mr. Wayne Yu, a Corporate Consultant of
Pacific
Place Financial Services Inc. I got to know Wayne initially as the
eldest son of the Chairman of the Yee Fung Toy Society of Canada, Mr.
Kan Yu.
[
Wayne speaks] Thank you Wayne
Does anyone have any questions for Wayne?
Introduce Ken Lam
Our next speaker is from the high tech area. I have known Ken for
eleven years, and we have worked for the same companies since. This may
be a good time to introduce guests that Ken and I had invited. Peter
Kam was a colleague of ours since the late 1980’s. Please welcome Grace
and Jessica, Peter’s wife and daughter. Perhaps Jessica can introduce
her friends. Ken’s other guest is Jacky. Please give them all a warm
welcome.
The world of high tech has offered exciting career
opportunities ever
since I graduated from UBC in Computer Science 30 years ago, and Ken
will be able to give you a sense of what a high tech job involves in
his presentation. Ken has worked for City Bank in Hong Kong after
graduating in Computer Science from the University of Manchester. After
immigrating to Canada, he worked for MDI and Motorola. He is currently
Director of Product Support at MDSI. Please welcome Mr. Ken Lam.
[
Ken speaks] Thank you Ken
Any questions for Ken?
Introduce Cindy Kam
Our next speaker is Cindy Kam. I first knew Cindy as Cindy Yu,
the
daughter of our Chairman of the YFT of Canada, Mr. Kan Yu and Wayne’s
sister. I remember her as a YFT scholarship winner when she was a
student at UBC.Since graduating with a B.Sc. in Occupational Therapy
with Honours, she has worked 4 years in the area of Vocational
Rehabilitation – to put in simple, she helps workers get back to work
after they have suffered injuries or disabilities. Please welcome Cindy
and a presentation on Occupational Therapy.
[
Cindy speaks] Thank you Cindy
I should tell you when I thought of holding a career workshop
for the Scholarship students and other Youth members, my first
thoughts were to feature previous Scholarship winners who have
graduated and are now working. Surely they would provide the best role
models for our current students. I am very glad it was Cindy that I
asked first, because she was so supportive of the concept and
enthusiastic about being a speaker. Thank you Cindy for helping to get
this workshop started!
Introduce Edmund Yee
Our next speaker works in the IT department of Canada Safeway.
I know his Uncle and Mom from the YFT. But just to show how small the
world is, especially the IT world is, I know many of Edmund’s
colleagues at Safeway. This is because my wife Betty worked for 5 years
in Safeway as a programmer in the 1980’s. I got to know the people in
the IT department, and many of them are still there today, now working
with Edmund. I got to meet Edmund and his fiancee in China when we all
attended the first World Yee Family Association Convention 2 years ago.
I would like to introduce Edmund’s beautiful bride, Jennifer!
Edmund will now give us a presentation of the IT world, more
from the point of providing information management systems for a large
company.
[
Edmond speaks] Thank you, Edmund.
Any questions for Edmund?
Q & A
That is the end of our formal presentations. Our panel of speakers will
now take questions.
Concluding Remarks
I want to thank our panel of speakers for each giving us insights into
their professions, and the opportunity to find out more about their
careers. I know it means a lot to the students to be able to use this
information to help them in making decisions about their future
careers. I know they will want to know more about other careers. If our
panel of speakers can help recommend other speakers, it would be a
great start for our next career workshop.
Please join us in the Mall Food Court for some refreshments.
Thank you all for coming.
Career Workshop Program November 3, 2002
The second Carer Workshop was held on November 3, 2002 at the YFT Hall
in Vancouver Chinatown. Two speakers from the first workshop became the
presenters at the second one. Cindy introduced her brother Wing Yu who
spoke for the accounting profession. As a little sister, Cindy
mentioned how much she benefited from Wing's help and mentoring when
she was growing up. Edmund introduced Judge Bill Yee, who is well known
to the Vancouver Chinese Community, but Edmund never had an opportunity
to get to know Bill until he had to prepare for this workshop. The
following summarizes all six career presentations.
Financial Services (Insurance
Broker, Personal Financial
Planner, and related careers)
Wayne Yu is the owner of Pacific Place Financial Services Inc. (PPG) at
whose boardroom we held the workshop. Wayne launched PPG in 1997 after
a successful career as a life insurance salesman, sales manager,
district sales manager, and VP for companies such as Metropolitan Life
and Prudential Life. PPG is a diversified brokerage firm that provides
service and products in Real Estate, Life Insurance, Property and
Casualty Insurance, Business Insurance, Disability Insurance, Financial
Services, Investment Funds and Investment Vehicles. Careers involve
selling products in one of these fields and will appeal to those who
are entrepreneurial without having to set up a business on their own.
Commissions are open ended. One of Wayne's insurance brokers has made
$300,000 per year or more on a regular basis. A college education is
not absolutely required, but Wayne advises that it would come in very
handy when the broker has to deal with college educated clients. Wayne
is interested in finding what makes people tick, and how world events,
like 9/11, have changed the insurance industry and the world. Wayne
found his degree in Psychology from SFU and training in Social Work
very helpful. For further information on certification courses contact
Wayne or visit the PPG site at
http://www.pacificplacegroup.com/careers.htm.
High Tech (Software Developer,
Software Development Manager)
Ken Lam is Director of Product Support for MDSI, a provider of Mobile
Workforce Management Systems. The recent dot com bubble has definitely
skewed the market for Computer Science and high tech graduates (up,
then down). However, high tech is definitely here to stay and will
continue to make an impact on society for the foreseeable future, so
there will always be demands for high tech graduates. Ken emphasized
the importance of networking and using contacts to get on the inside
track in finding a job. It is important to see beyond the technical
aspects in a high tech career. After tackling technical challenges for
a few years, technical staff should consider taking on management roles
to advance their careers. This involves people and communication
skills, and a broader mindset than purely technical roles.
Occupational Therapy (Occupational
Therapist, Vocational
Rehabilitation Specialist)
Cindy Kam presented her decision and educational path to becoming an
Occupational Therapist. She loves to be with people, and she has found
a profession that allows her to help people with injuries and
disabilities to returning to a more normal life style, whether at work
or other routines of life. Graduates are in high demand. She and many
classmates were hired months before graduation in June 1996, and the
rest of the class found jobs by September. Jobs can be found in the
private or public sector, or in a hospital setting which provides
excellent benefits. UBC is the only school in B.C. that offers training
in Occupational Therapy ("macro level” therapy) and Physical Therapy
("micro level” therapy). For program details see
http://www.rehab.ubc.ca.
Information Technology (Application
Programmer and Analyst,
Computer Operations and Support Specialist, Database Administrator, etc)
Edmund Yee presented his experience as a Langara College co-op grad and
programmer/analyst at Safeway. He emphasized the usefulness of a co-op
education in getting a variety of work experiences to try on before
settling on a specific employer or type of work after graduation.
Non-technical skills such as writing and speaking, leadership and
people skills, and positive work attitudes, are just as important as
the technical skills for career advancements in the IT environment.
Edmund loves his work at Safeway, which requires some travel within
North America, a variety of tasks, and on-going training to keep him
abreast of his field. Visit their site at
http://www.safeway.com/Employment_tmp/default.asp; follow the link to
Information Technology.
Accounting (careers requiring
CA, CGA, or CMA)
Wing Yu is the brother of Wayne and Cindy, both of whom presented
careers at our workshop in July. Wing graduated with a B. Comm. He went
on to obtain his CGA designation and currently works for Calkins &
Burke Limited, a food brokerage company which imports and exports
various food products all over the world..
Wing presents a definition of Accounting as a STANDARDIZED,
SYSTEMATIC, CLASSIFICATION OF VALUES and OPERATIONS. His personal
interest in an accounting career derives from many factors. He likes
money, he can see all aspects of a business, there is ample opportunity
for growth, and proper accounting does make a difference to the world,
viz. Enron and Martha Stewart, where major repercussions arise when
accounting rules are bent and broken.
Of the three accounting designations, the CMA becomes part of
the management team, whereas the CA and the CGA are granted “signing
off” authority on financial reports prepared by client companies.
Candidates for CA need a university degree before starting the program,
whereas CGA students can start the program at any time, as long as the
university degree is also completed when they apply for the
designation. There are many employment opportunities in public
practice, industry, government, and education. Wing provided a handout
listing the salary ranges of various accounting positions.
Wing advises students to take career selection seriously. A
career is for life, so you should not pick just careers that look easy.
The accounting profession should appeal to those who are disciplined in
their work habits. Typically, an accountant starts the day with a pile
of work on their desk in the morning, but by the end of the day, the
desk should be relatively cleared. In conclusion:
- Accounting is a life long career which touches on many
aspects of the world in which we live.
- Provides opportunity to grow in unexpected ways.
- Do not allow fear of failure to prevent you from succeeding!
Judiciary (Provincial Court
Judge, and related careers in law)
Bill Yee is a judge at the BC Provincial Court. He states there is no
direct path to becoming a judge. The basic requirements are a law
practice and an application to the BC Judicial Council. After meeting
their qualifications, it is up to the Solicitor General of the province
to make the final decision.
Bill’s appointment to provincial court judge two years ago is
the culmination of a series of careers related to community, law, and
politics. He started as a youth leader of Chinatown groups like Hai
Fung and student leader at UBC in the 60’s, obtained his law degree and
began his practice in Chinatown in the 70’s, entered civic politics on
Mike Harcourt’s team in the 80’s as a Vancouver alderman for two terms.
He has been active in the Chinese Canadian community throughout his
life in Canada, most recently as Chairman of the Chinese Benevolent
Association of Vancouver, and Chairman of the Yee Fung Toy Society of
Canada. Like all judges, Bill had to give up all business and community
ties, including his law practice and direct community involvement.
Bill’s advice on selecting a career is to focus on your
strengths. To paraphrase an old Chinese saying, “in every profession or
walk of life, there is a superstar”, not just in glamorous and high
prestige careers like sports, entertainment, or medicine. You should
pick a profession where you have a chance of blossoming. If you are not
sure where your true talents lie, Bill advises you take time to travel
or enroll in a broad range of university courses.
Bill’s advice on personal development is not to be afraid of
hard work and commitment. You might surprise yourself by overcoming
challenges that seemed insurmountable. Lastly, Bill advises the YFT
youth to learn Chinese, preferably Mandarin.
Jim Yee
I've added you to my YeeFungToyYouthForum group at Yahoo! Groups, a
free, easy-to-use email group service. As a member of this group, you
may send messages to the entire group using just one email address:
YeeFungToyYouthForum@yahoogroups.com. Yahoo! Groups also makes it easy
to store photos and files, coordinate events, and more.
Here's a description of the group
This group provides a forum for discussion on matters of interests to
the younger generation Yees from around the world. The purpose is to
stimulate more participation from younger Yees in the activities of Yee
Fung Toy Associations in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong and China
in particular.
Here's my introductory message for you
You are being invited to join the Yahoo group Yee Fung Toy Youth Forum
because you have shown interest in furthering the effort to increase
youth participation in Yee Fung Toy Association activities. Welcome.
from Fred Yee, Seattle, WA
Charter group members share personal profiles
Fred Yee
shares information about himself as of February 2003:
1. Where were you born?
I was born in Hong Kong and came to Seattle in 1969 as a teenager.
2. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Hong Kong and then in Seattle.
3. College/university? What
did you study?
I studied at Seattle U, Western Washington U and U of Washington. My BS
in Geology but discovered that was not what I wanted to do in real
life. Got another degree in social and urban geography and a MS in
Planning specializing in social and community issues. I also picked up
a MBA from UW along the way.
4. Married? Children?
I was married for 20 years but lost my wife, Amy, to cancer (in less
than 2 months) in October 2000. I have two children, a daughter of 18
who is studying at Western Washington U and a son of 15 who is a
sophomore in high school. I like to say that I started a new
relationship with a wonderful lady about 4 months ago. I know, Amy, my
wife, is guiding me in heaven every step of the way.
5. Company/organization?
Main
responsibilities?
I have spent over 25 years in health and human service program
administration as a career. I am currently the Associate Regional
Health 10 (Washington, Idaho, Alaska and Oregon).
Best or worst job you've
ever
had:
Best job: "Operation Welcome" team member at the Sea-tac Air Port
(student part-time)
Worst job: Selling used furniture at a thrift shop.
Ideal weekend:
Table Tennis in the morning. Eat. A round of Par 3 golf in the
afternoon. eat (Chinese or Japanese) and gathering with friends in the
evening.
Biggest pet peeve(s):
People who are constantly late with no reason.
Hobbies, interests outside
of
work:
Community volunteering. I have served on a number of community boards
and committees over the years, Examples include Chair of the Board of
Kin On Community Health Care (1996-98) and co-chair of the Health Care
Task Force of the Seattle-King County Aging & Disability Services
Advisory Council (2002). I chaired and co-chaired the Seattle yee Fung
Toy Association for several years.
I like to travel, play table tennis, a bit of golf, photography, light
singing.
Favorite
music/movie/book/food:
Music: Hong Kong Pops: Sam Hui, Lam and Albert Au, Anita Mui and Sally
Yipas reflecting my age. Also, Simon and Garfungal, Carpenters, Bread,
Commodores, John Denver and Carly Simon to a lesser degree. All
antiques by today's standards.
Movies: It is a Mad world, 2001 A. Space Odessy, recent sinful
pleasure: Message in a Bottle.
Books:
Most recent: Fast Food Nation
Serious; Yellow, Race beyond Black and White by Frank Wu
Sinful Pleasure: Nicholas Sparks A. Bend in the Road.
Food: Japanese (especially raw fish), then Chinese (Cantonese), then a
rare American prime steak.
Harvey Yee
shares information about himself as of February 2003:
1. Where were you born?
I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta.
2. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Calgary, Alberta.
3. College/university? What
did you study?
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce at University of Calgary, and a
Bachelor of Administration at Athabasca University.
4. Married? Children?
Single
5. Company/organization?
Main
responsibilities?
Worked at my parents store for many years, and have run my own
businesses for a number of years, but now looking for new ventures and
opportunities.
Hobbies, interests outside
of
work:
Hobbies and sports include: golf (not well though), fish, run, love to
learn, photography, cooking and gardening.
I previously volunteered with the Calgary chapter of YFT and now with
the Vancouver chapter. I was also actively involved with the Shunde
Association in Calgary and the Bowness Lions Club.
James Yu
shares information about himself as of February 2003:
I was also born in Hong Kong and came to Canada as a teenager
in the early seventies. For the last thirty years, I have never gone
back to visit my hometown where I was brought up and spent my
childhood.
I graduated from B.C.I.T. in Civil & Structural
Engineering and work as a Technologist in this field for the last ten
years. I also have management experience in a community drug store and
selling real estate as a realtor. After all that, I found that I am not
a good salesman so I go back to my engineering career.
I have a lovely wife, who is a community pharmacist, and three
boys. Justin is in second-year engineering, Stewart in his twelve
grade and Maurice in his fourth grade. The whole family is heavily
involved in church activities. I constantly encourage my children to
get involved in YFT activities but they find nothing that they are
interested in. Lately, for the last couple years, Jim and I introduced
the Youth Group monthly meeting and my boys participated in a couple
events: Bowling night and career workshops.
Besides church functions, I got involved in the local Radio
station where I learnt and practiced on stage and public speaking
techniques, The Chinese Consumer Association where I was a founding
member and I served as a vice-chairman for a few terms, the YFT
Association of Vancouver and of Canada as former chairman and vice
chairman. Together with Jim, we established the YFT Youth Group to
accommodate our young members and created the learning environment for
them to take part, both in the Martial arts and Chinese classes.
Although I am a father of three boys, I am a big boy myself
and love to ride motorcycle on the weekends. My tires have left their
tracks on many
highways in the province of beautiful British Columbia.
The Holy Bible is the book which give me many inspirations and
guidance, and some Chinese philosophies do help me to shape the way I
am.
In my opinion, there is no good or bad job. All jobs allow us
to gain and establish invaluable experiences. However, I do admit that
I prefer some jobs to others, e.g., sales is definitely not my cup of
tea.
Jim Yee
shares the answers to a Personal Profile questionnaire in 2002
for the MDSI Village
Voice, a company employee on-line newsletter.
1. Where were you born?
Pearl River delta area in Guangdong Province, China (my village is
located about 4 hours’ drive from Hong Kong).
2. Where did you grow up?
- China (7 years between the Communist Revolution and the
Cultural
Revolution),
- Hong Kong (before it became a Special Administrative
Region
of China),
- Fiji (when it was still a British colony),
- Vancouver, B.C. (between the W.A.C. Bennett and Bill
Bennett - father and son premiers - eras).
3. College/university? What
did you study?
UBC Computer Science (when Comp Sci was still a novelty).
4. Married? Children?
Married to Betty (we met at UBC 30 years ago); two daughters at UBC.
5. Company/organization?
Main
responsibilities?
MDSI Customer Support
Best or worst job you've
ever
had:
Strawberry picking on hands and knees in Richmond, B.C. in my first
summer in Canada.
I think my back has never recovered from that.
Ideal weekend:
Backpacking overnight trip with a friend on a cloudless weekend in
August.
Biggest pet peeve(s):
Income taxes: I want to pay my fair share, but I hate to take part
in this game of searching for obscure tax breaks every year to minimize
my taxable income, and where the rules of the game change from year to
year ever
so subtly (and sometimes quite drastically). I wonder if there is a
country
where the government has been so transparent in its financial
management that the citizens pay all their taxes voluntarily and
without complaining. I would like to go and live there (in my dreams -
yeah).
Hobbies, interests outside
of
work:
It started with volunteering for my daughters’ school and
extra-curricular activities. Next thing I know, I am hooked on
community involvement. Recent examples: Past vice-chair (1999-2001) and
board member (1995-2001) of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater
Vancouver. Currently chairman of the Yee Fung Toy Society of Vancouver,
a non-profit association of the Yee clan (now located in Vancouver
Chinatown, but originally founded in Victoria, B.C. in 1904 to provide
Yee
clan members a home away from their homes in the Pearl River delta
villages). We offer scholarships, monthly youth programs, and weekly
martial arts and Chinese language classes to our young members (the
older generation just wants to play Mah Jong).
Favorite
music/movie/book/food:
I have always read books for guidance, though I cannot remember all the
books that have influenced my development (an ongoing project). I came
across the following books within the last 17 years and find I keep
re-reading:
- Scholar Warrior: An Introduction to the Tao in Everyday
Life by Deng Ming-Dao;
- Magical Child by Joseph Chilton Pearce;
- A Guide for the Perplexed by E.F. Schumacher;
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.
