Pilipinx-American Leadership Summit (PALS) Information

The Pilipinx-American Leadership Summit (PALS) is a summit based at the University of California, Merced that aims to educate, empower, and help to inform high school youth of the Philippine identity from a critical, decolonized perspective. Established in November 2020 by Janelle Perez and Jason Simbre, the conference aims to provide Pilipinx-American youth with opportunities to learn about their cultural identity that they traditionally would not have access to. Individuals become leaders by learning, taking ownership of their identity, and pushing for equitable representation in their communities. Primarily aimed at serving the communities of high school youth in Northern California and the Central Valley, this summit also hopes to provide personal growth opportunities for college students and recent college graduates in the greater Pilipinx community as well. Given the longstanding (neo)colonial relationship between the Philippines and the United States, this conference serves as a project that hopes to address the internalized conflicts many feel within their identity. It is vital that we push to conserve the sacredness of our cultural identity and awaken this cultural consciousness that lives inside of us.