Contrary to popular assumptions, my decision to be a Teen Health Educator at the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center’s Teen Resource Center (TRC) was not due to some well thought-out medical career plan. Instead, the happening was more coincidental. It was due to an oddly fated crossroad with the TRC that somehow, in the end, provided me with unforgettable experiences. During an annual doctor’s check-up three years ago, a Teen Health Educator from the TRC happened to stop me on my way to use the restroom. As the blank slate that I was, I awkwardly walked with her into the doctor’s room for further conversation. She gave me a TRC brochure, offered a warm welcome to the TRC, and sat down to talk to me about stress management, nutrition, and other health topics. At the end, she asked, “Would you like to write down your email so we can contact you about upcoming opportunities?” I saw her enthusiasm and nodded indifferently as I scribbled down my email on the patient form.

Later on, the TRC emailed everyone about their 6 month internship, the Community Service Learning Program (CSLP), and I, bored from the mundane high school routine, decided to give it a shot. I applied and was accepted into CSLP. Through the program, I had the opportunity to intern at another community organization. Along with rest of the 8-person CSLP team, I created a public service announcement about self esteem and planned and hosted a teen workshop about it at the TRC. These six months widened my understanding of the Asian American community and introduced me to people with inspiring stories that I otherwise would not have known. It also made me able to analyze my own background story in context with common issues that Asian Americans face. Hoping to continue working with the TRC even after CSLP ended, I applied for the open teen health educator position. At first afraid and reluctant to take on such a huge responsibility, I was hesitant in applying, but my CSLP coordinator encouraged me to reach out of my comfort zone and strongly vouched for me. With that motivational push, I went for it, but obviously, I did not realize all the challenges I was signing up for-running around the clinic to catch patients, speaking in front of large crowds during events, running back and forth from meeting to meeting-but it pushed me to do more than I thought I could. Honestly, the TRC and the doors it opened for me truly defined and highlighted my teenage years.

• Bernice Chen
• Lauren Zhao
• Cui Xia Chen
• Joan Wang

(Image via Pete the Planner)

We’re glad that while you were drooling over the features of our redesigned website, you also took a moment to stop here and read about the new Teen Resource Center blog.

This blog is an entirely new project of the Teen Resource Center and the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center. The reason we created it is because in the past, the TRC did not have an open web space for staff and teens to start or continue their conversations. We know that you may have attended the last CSLP exhibit, or the Annual Basketball Tournament in July, or any one of our Open Mic events, but whether you’ve come to one or a million of our events, you still haven’t received a full picture of the awesomeness that is TRC. By creating this blog, we are giving you a better insight into who we are, what we do, and most importantly, why we do it.

You may not see a lot of entries up now, but you will soon. Our designated staff writer and Teen Health Educator, Jennifer Lau, is super excited to share her stories about working in the TRC and what it means to be a teenager here in New York City. We also have a comments section where you can share your opinions.*

Thanks for reading to the end and come back soon. Trust us, it will be worth the wait!

Love,

* If you know the TRC at all, then you know that we play it clean, which means that any comments that include curses, foul language, or general malicious intent will not be allowed as public content on the blog. Only content that is appropriate for the TRC community will be approved for public posting. Please give us some time to get approved posts up online.