Chinese American Education Association and West California Academy of Art and Design cordially invite you to celebrate
 
Ms. Lei Wang’s 50 Years Commitment in Art Education（1972-2022）
 
2:00pm-5:00pm, Sunday, January 8, 2023
 
420 S. Pine St. San Gabriel, CA 91776
 
 
Come commemorate Ms. Wang’s half-century of celebrated teaching with community leaders, educators, students, alumni, and parents. Enjoy art activities and refreshments!
 
Please RSVP by email: [email protected]
Tel: 626-558-7777
 
Gentle Reminder--
 
A: We have prepared gift bags for the children attending the ceremony. Please register in advance with the child's name, age and phone number. The gift bags are limited, so that we need to assure all the registered children get the gifts.
 
B: Please understand that children won’t receive the gift bags on the day if you haven’t registered their names and info in advance.
 
C: Please arrive before 1:00pm for the gifts and social mingling. We will stop giving gift bags after 1:00pm.
 
D: It will be difficult to park on the day. Please park your car on the nearby residential roads and take a short walk to the venue. Thank you for your understanding.
 
The seats are limited, please make sure to register in advance, thank you!

Jonas Ma earned acceptance to Columbia University in 2022.  He wrote a comment about our school on Yelp.

​“Been a student since the summer of my freshman year in high school, and I just graduated in my senior year. Omar pushes me to the better artist I am today. Ms. Wang's hospitality is extremely heartwarming, and the place feels like a second home even though I have to drive one and half hour to get there every time because I live in Irvine.
 
There are variety of classes to choose. Entertainment design, architecture, fashion design, illustration, fine art, UI design, book cover design, graphic design, font design, and most importantly life drawing class. And Omar treats you like you are a professional artist, not some random kid who likes art. He pushes us to work hard and think outside the box. And most importantly, he will critique your work outside of class all the time. He said "send me work when you are outside of class!" So basically you are having class 24x7 for the entire year if you are working on art constantly. No matter how late it is, he will reply. The group chat the students have is a great community. Students help each other, give advice, help critique. Very comfortable community. And we have big class critique every now and then to not only help students get critique from multiple perspectives, but also train students to know how to speak up and express their thoughts. Omar has transformed me from a shy introvert to an artist who really likes to speak out and critique and express my opinion.” ----Jonas Ma
 
 
 
 
Eric Lin earned acceptance to Art Center College of Design--Illustration with a scholarship of $22,500/year $90,000/4yrs in 2022.  He wrote a comment about our school on Yelp.

Free up children’s imagination! Allowing a child to draw with freedom and without boundaries is a critical component to childhood development because it opens the mind and frees the spirit. A child can form thoughts and ideas in his/her artwork that may be surprising to the adult. 
Creative arts exist as cursers for exploration of children’s education which often feeds into other attributes of developmental and transformative experiences and inspirations. This is a most precious time in early childhood development to take advantage of these moments as it can lead into proficiencies in higher education and career contention, leadership and unique perspectives. 

​“I am glad that I have been focusing on just one thing during the past 50 years, that is, teaching children art.” Principal Ms. Lei Wang said,"Teaching children art is not an easy job. Every day we face different children, and each child is different. A good art teacher can stimulate the interest in art for children who don’t like drawing or fear to draw. Instructed properly, children can even produce exceptional artworks beyond their age. "

​The year of 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Principal Ms. Lei Wang’s career in children’s art education. The Chinese American Education Association recognized Ms. Wang with the Art Education Achievement Award for her half-century of excellence in art education. Dr. Marina Tse, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of U.S. Department of Education Ministry, and Fang Shuqiang, the California State Congressman, presented the award certificates to Ms. Wang.

​“I am glad that I have been focusing on just one thing during the past 50 years, that is, teaching children art.” ---- Lei Wang

The student group artwork themed “Thank You for Protecting Us” was collected by the LA County Sheriff Department Temple Station in November 2017. 

​Students participating in the group artworks themed “Hobbit” and “Happy Chinese New Year” collected by the San Gabriel Library in 2013.

​Students participating in the group artwork themed “Hello Beijing” collected by the 2008 Beijing Olympics in 2006.

Congratulations to WCAAD Student Kate Xiao, 8 years old, and her brother Owen Xiao, 7 years old, for winning the district-level awards at the National PTA Reflection 2022-23 themed “Show Your Voice!”  Owen got the Overall Award of Excellence for school district and his art is promoted to state. Kate got the Award of Excellence for school district.

Kate and Owen are residents of Texas and they started to take WCAAD online class in 2020.