Ken Luong looked around him at the chaos unfolding, took a deep breath, and smiled. He and his execs had spent the better part of a semester and a half planning for this day, but that wasn’t the reason this moment was so precious to him.

Four years ago, Luong attended this very event, but at that time, he was a participant. It was a one of the reasons he came to SMU, and he hoped that among the throngs of participants, he had convinced a few as well.

Luong is the president of the Asian American Leadership and Educational Conference, AALEC, which held its 11th annual conference this past weekend. More than 140 high school students showed up, ranging from freshmen to seniors applying for college. The entire conference was driven by AALEC’s mission: to provide leadership and educational training to encourage young minds to explore, grow and lead the way to success. However, to Luong, the conference had another objective.

“The new generation of Asian American students, due to all the stereotypes out there, they’re ashamed of being Asian,” Luong said. “The conference is here to help them embrace their culture and not to be so ashamed of their heritage, as well as promoting their leadership skills.”

AALEC’s theme this year was Creative Minds: Imagine, Innovate, Influence. According to Luong, the theme was heavily influenced by America’s Best Dance Crew, where many of the crews were Asian. Becoming a member of a dance crew is generally not accepted as a traditional career path, but to the execs of AALEC, there is nothing wrong with thinking outside the box when considering a future job.

“It’s okay to go outside of your regular path,” Luong said. “If you put your mind to it, you can definitely achieve your goals.”

The conference began at 8 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 27 at the Dedman Center where high school students signed in and dropped off their belongings. The students were then escorted to Hughes-Trigg, where the majority of the conference was held. Breakfast was served in the Varsity followed by a quick tour for participants.

The participants were randomly divided into twelve groups and accompanied by three Home Base Leaders, HBLs, at all times. The conference started off with an introduction workshop, which consisted of numerous icebreakers and group building exercises. The groups received spirit items from their HBLs that distinguished them from members of other groups.

“We didn’t want to put people from the same school in the same groups, so we looked at the schools they came from when we were putting together groups. No more than two people from the same school were in the same group,” said Tiffany Nguyen, vice president of AALEC. “There was also an even distribution of guys and girls in each group.”

Much of AALEC centered on workshops and speakers, all of whom were connected to the AALEC’s central theme of diversity. Key speakers included Jacob Pak, the director of business development for Frito-Lay and the theatre company Hereandnow, which is an acting group with a diverse cast.

All speakers spoke to participants about thinking with an open mind. Specifically, they wanted students to know that there isn’t just a single path to get to a dream career but a multitude of paths that many people don’t see or consider.

For entertainment, AALEC brought in Jin, a rising star in the music world. His fame stems from the fact that he is the first Asian to ever to sign a major recording label. Jin performed many of his famous songs and talked to the high school students about dreaming big and doing what they want in life.

After his performance, Jin signed autographs for everyone and socialized with participants.

“Jin was definitely worth it because we thought he would just sit around, perform, and then just leave,” Luong said. “But instead, he bonded really with the students, was very amiable and I think the kids got a lot of inspirational value out of him.”

AALEC ended on Saturday with skits performed by each group. The skits were representations of what the participants had learned over the course of AALEC, as well as any special memories they had made. For the AALEC officers, the end came with a mix of emotions.

“For execs, we do all the work while the participants and the HBLs have all the fun but the satisfaction of putting together such a great conference is what drives us to completing our goal and getting it done,” Luong said. “I really feel as though AALEC will continue growing. The sky is the limit really and we already have a bunch of big ideas for next year.”