A Festive End to 2022 – Winter Banquet

January 8, 2023

Written by: Wendy Wang

Revised by: Stephanie Sun

With 2022 coming to an end, Building Bridges held its winter banquet, and this year’s event featured an awards ceremony to commemorate outstanding members. With a variety of festive activities and delicious food, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

The evening kicked off with pie in the face. Guests lined up to take their turn at pieing their friends in the face, and there was plenty of laughter and good-natured teasing.

Pie in the face with shaving cream

Afterwards, it was time to sit down and enjoy a hearty meal. Our potluck-style dinner was a feast, with an abundance of tasty options to choose from.

Following dinner, the team bonding activities continued with the gingerbread house contest, white elephant, and karaoke. These were great opportunities for team members to come together and bond over shared experiences.

Gingerbread Train and Castle

White Elephant gift exchange

Having a great time singing along together

Finally, to end the night, everyone gathered around for the awards ceremony. Each member received a Certificate of Recognition for their hard work and dedication to Building Bridges. Furthermore, the following Building Bridges volunteers demonstrated exceptional commitment and earned the Outstanding Volunteer Award along with a $10 Amazon gift card:

• Rebecca Chen

• Kate Ahn

• Kaden Pierce

• Kaelyn Pierce

• Wendy Wang

• Alice Min

The Presidential Service Volunteer Award (PVSA) certificates were also handed out to members that applied for it . This was made possible because Building Bridges recently became a certifying organization for the PSVA, which is a prestigious honor for recognition of volunteer service. We had a total of 15 Building Bridges members that received the PSVA at the three levels: Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

Gold:

• Isabella Easow

• Stephanie Sun

• Brian Kwon

• Claire Jiang

• Jayden Liu

• Kaelyn Pierce

• Jieun Lee

Silver:

• Yuhan Shao

• Yun Xin Lin

• Kaden Pierce

Bronze:

• Kunyuan Zou

• Isabella Wang

• Christina Yi

• Yeryn Song

• Wendy Wan

Some of the Awards Ceremony recipients

All in all, our winter banquet was a wonderful evening of fun and celebration. The dedication of our team, especially from our co-founders Estelle and Stephanie, contributed to Building Bridges' tremendous success in 2022, and we are looking forward to continuing our growth and embracing new opportunities that come our way in 2023.