CAAL members joined our beloved Cary Library’s 150th Anniversary Gala on March 23rd! See Cary Library Foundation’s report here.  

On 3/30/2019, Sharon Olofsson, an educational consultant in Lexington, shared with more than 40 CAAL families the latest trends in college admission and how to plan for it. Sharon spoke to many practical aspects of college planning, at the same time, recommended that parents and students look beyond the rankings and ivy leagues. Instead, use the college planning process to figure out where the kid’s passion lies and ultimately, how to be happy 10 years down the road professionally.  Here is the link of the report of her talk.

CAAL has been very active in charitable efforts such as the CAAL for Cary campaign with the goal of giving back to support our town and building stronger community. In 2018 CAAL launched a new community building award/grant program to support local organizations that are engaged in serving the community. The METCO College Scholarship Fund of Lexington was the inaugural recipient and the donation was presented at the Chinese New Year Celebration Banquet on February 10, 2018. This year as our beloved Cary Library celebrates its 150th  anniversary, we are pleased to announce that Cary Memorial Library Foundation is the recipient of the 2019 CAAL Community Building Award/Grant Program. With contributions from CAAL and tens of generous Chinese American families, CAAL has made a $5500+ donation to become a Publisher level sponsor to the Cary Library’s 150th  Anniversary Gala and is sending a CAAL delegation to the Gala. Happy Birthday, Cary Library! 

The 750 seats in Battin Memorial Hall were nearly filled when the drums began. Five members of the Boston Synchrony Chinese Percussion Ensemble stood on the stage, filling the air with an ancient rhythm. Their quick, lively beat cut through the din of the crowd, silencing it immediately.

Then, from the entranceway, a dragon emerged. Hoisted in the air by nine Lexington community members, the great red and gold beast snaked its way through the crowd toward the drums. This is how the Lunar New Year festivities began, Feb. 10, at the Chinese American Association of Lexington’s annual celebration. [Read full Report] 

On Feb. 5, people across the world will celebrate the Chinese or Lunar New Year. This year is the Year of the Pig, which, according to the Chinese Zodiac, symbolizes people who enjoy life and love entertainment. Therefore, it’s only fitting that this year’s Lunar New Year Celebration in Lexington will be the town’s biggest in years.

“This year, in terms of the performances, is probably going to be the grandest” said Hua Wang, a member of the Chinese American Association of Lexington.

CAAL has been organizing the town’s Lunar New Year celebration for the past 36 years. Normally, the event has been a sit-down dinner, with performances scheduled around the meal. This year, though, will be completely centered around the performances. [Read full report]

Every year around this time, Chinese American Association of Lexington (CAAL) runs a candidate forum together with CAAL PAC, a separately registered 501(c)(4) organization to focus on local politics and elections. Candidates are eager to come to this forum because the voting participation from the Chinese community is increasing and the past track record shows that CAAL PAC endorsed candidates have fared very well in the past elections. 

The Forum this year was held at the Community Center on Saturday Jan 19 and aimed to provide an opportunity for the Chinese community to get to know the candidates running for town wide elections- why they are running, what they plan to achieve, and answering questions people care about. This year, there are multiple contested positions: 3 candidates for 1 position on Planning Board, 3 candidates for 1 one-year term position on Board of Selectmen. The 2 positions on School Committee and 2 three-year term positions on Board of Selectmen are uncontested.

After careful deliberation, CAAL PAC has decided to endorse the following candidates: Suzie Barry and Joe Pato for the 3-year term Board of Selectmen; Eileen Jay and Scott Bokun for School Committee, Mark Sandeen for the 1-year term Board of Selectmen, and Nancy Corcoran-Ranchetti for the Planning Board.

Here is the News Report from Lexington Minuteman

More photos 

The first Monday in March is Lexington’s annual election day. All town wide positions, as well as Town Meeting positions, are open for election. This year, there are multiple positions with more candidates contesting for the same position: 3 candidates for 1 position on Planning Board, 3 candidates for 2 three-year term position on Board of Selectmen, and 4 candidates for 1 one-year term position on Board of Selectmen. For School Committee, it is 2 for 2: 2 candidates for 2 positions.

Every year around this time, CAAL and CAAL PAC will run a Candidate Forum, where we invite town wide candidates to come and meet our community. We aim to provide an opportunity for our community to get to know the candidates better, why they are running, what they plan to achieve, and answer questions we care about. Right after the forum, the PAC will discuss and decide on the endorsement by voting. Candidates are eager to come to our forum, because the voting rate in our community is increasing and our past track record shows that our endorsed candidates have fared very well in the elections 

As announced before, this year’s Candidate Forum will be held on Saturday 1/19 from 1:00pm – 4:50pm, in Room 237 at Community Center. We welcome everyone to come and get to know these candidates, so you can be an informed voter on 3/4.