Dylan Wang noticed as he grew up with his grandmother, she liked using technology to communicate with her friends, especially because she can’t visit them very often.
“So, I wanted to solve that problem,” he said.
He thought technology could make his grandmother’s life easier, “which is something I wanted to do,” the Troy High School senior in Fullerton, California.
Wang really likes programming and finding solutions to problems.
He also volunteers on weekends and summer vacations at an adult daycare, where he learned how elderly people had trouble using technology, especially if they had a language barrier.
“I really like solving very tangible problems,” Wang said.
Wang went to work and came up with two applications for the iPad and Apple Watch.
One app can translate English easily into the user’s native language.
The second app takes health information captured by the Apple Watch and monitors health statistics, like heart rate, and then sends the information to family or friends who can monitor it from their own phones, alerting them with a red light if a problem arises, or a green light telling them everything is OK.
Orange County, California, officials took notice of Wang’s contributions to the community and honored him, along with eight others, for their acts of kindness at a ceremony on Nov. 13.
The celebration was held at the Elher’s Event Center in Buena Park, emceed by former Anaheim City Councilman Jose Moreno.
The Kindness Awards ceremony is hosted each year on Nov 13, which is internationally observed as World Kindness Day.
“It is especially important for us to acknowledge kindness wherever we can find it and inspire others to perform their own acts of kindness in the community,” said Chaffee. “Our Kindness Award honorees have risen to the challenge and have gone beyond that to ensure the needs of our communities are met.”
Wang said helping seniors while making cool projects was inspiring and he hopes to continue the work.
“Seeing them have an actual effect and creating happiness in their lives immediately after was really rewarding and inspiring,” Wang said. “In the future, I would like to go to college to have more opportunities to create even larger scale projects to help more people, and to have even a bigger impact in the world.”
Seven community members were given Kindness Awards, and Chaffee also awarded Mike Oates, former Fullerton Rotary president, with an Honorary Kindness Award.
Besides Wang, awardees included the following:
Nicou Azaran, an independent living skills and outreach instructor at the Braille Institute in Anaheim, was awarded for going “above and beyond” to give individualized attention to each student, according to Chaffee’s office. She also advocates for better services for them in the community. Azaran organizes and conducts free workshops, offering support to visually impaired people and their families.
Zelda Makanaaloha Preston, a freshman at Fullerton Union High School, is an active volunteer at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fullerton. Since she was 7 years old, Preston has used each birthday to perform an act of kindness by donating clothes, shoes, toys, and other necessities to local nonprofits. On her last birthday, she collected 291 pounds of food for the Hub of Hope food pantry, according to Chaffee’s office.
Also awarded was Sam Yoon, who founded Seesaw Communities in 2021 to support adults with developmental disabilities. Yoon studied pipe organ and choral conducting in Korea and the U.S. Seesaw Communities provides vocational training, helping participants find their voices and abilities. The organization has become a leader in providing employment opportunities and fostering more inclusive workplaces.
Virginia Wyckoff was honored with the award for her volunteer work at the Children’s Museum at La Habra. After her grandson’s death, she created a wishing well at the museum in his memory. The funds collected from the well are used to help local schools visit the museum.
Alice Shiozawa was recognized for her involvement with the Rotary Club of Placentia, a group of people who create change in their communities. She has helped with neighborhood clean-ups, organizing and distributing school backpacks, preparing hygiene kits and holiday gift packs, and other community projects.
Tony Munguia and his daughter Bivianne Munguia were awarded for helping to rescue a resident from a burning house. “Due to their quick thinking, they helped save the life of the resident and stop further damage to the home,” Chaffee’s office wrote.
Mike Oats, known for his years of service to local organizations in Fullerton, was given an honorary Kindness Award for his volunteer efforts helping youth, his work with the Fullerton Rotary Club and the city’s Sister City Association, and his volunteer work with Crittenton Services, a mental health and child welfare nonprofit.
Tait was one of the judges this year, along with Charles Barfield, the general manager of the Orange County Employees Association; Roasalina Davis, owner of Tlaquepaque Restaurant; Christian Esteban, project manager of Store One; and Lorena Moreno, the principal at Western High School.
