College Programs

Anatolia Cultural Center strives to support and inspire the young members of the Turkish community.

Anatolia Cultural Center strives to support and inspire the young members of the Turkish community. University-student-led projects and organizations are centered upon providing leadership opportunities and initiatives for the youth to develop themselves by embracing the surrounding communities. With this initiative, the ATOMA organization continues to be led by the young female leaders in the Turkish community for 2 years. Since its beginning, the ongoing projects by the university students have encompassed not only self-development but also interfaith dialogue activities to find answers to the questions of how the youth can be4er integrate with the broader community at higher education by having a firm foot in their faith & actively involved in diverse communities.

College Application Support Project (CASP)

One-on-one matching of the high school and college transfer students to junior and senior university students based on their career and academic plans. Throughout the 4-month application process, each applicant met their mentor every week and was provided with insightful feedback and resources on their application materials, along with mental support. All mentors attended a 3-week seminar series offered by college counselors before the project started.

ESL Project

Weekly ESL courses (2 hours/week) for Turkish immigrant women residing in Orange County. Each student was assigned to specific CEFR levels from beginner to advanced taught by the Turkish university students for more than a year.

Yemen Project

To provide food support for the food crisis in Yemen, fundraising was started through the initiatives of our young members in collaboration with the Embrace Relief, from January 31st to March 1st. The Gofundme link is also active throughout this period.

Kenya Project

To aid efforts in hopes of creating positive change in the world, the Kenya Project was initiated by the youth to help with food and supplies for the orphanages in Kenya.

Letters to Senior Centers

As seniors and adults over the age of 60 are more likely to be impacted by COVID-19, our youth work towards aiding efforts in minimizing the spread of COVID-19 and providing protection to community members who are at risk. Volunteers donated food and necessities to senior centers, retirement homes, and nursing homes and wrote notes to residents at these centers.

Thanksgiving Game Night

Due to the impacts of COVID-19, this year’s Thanksgiving night was held through an online game night by hosting young OC and LA community members. Winners of the online games and the designer of the best t-shirt received amazing gifts!

Galentine’s Day Event

Before COVID-19, a brunch was held to get together with friends in the same universities to celebrate Galentine’s day. Attendees gained the chance to know each other and wrote letters to friends that met for the first time.

Seminars

University, Youth, and Beyond Convention: motivational talks given by Malek Bendelhoum, Ahmet Rehab, Dr. Ahmet Kurucan, and Dr. Seyma Aslan, together with fruitful workshop and brainstorming sessions to discuss and open the ways to new projects by the Turkish university students residing in the West Region.

Annual University Orientation Program

Welcoming the incoming university students in the West through a talk from Dr. Alp Aslandogan on “Being a University Student & Making the most out of the University Life”. Through this program, the incoming university students were provided with a platform where they met sophomore and junior students in the same universities, learned about potential resources within these universities, and asked their questions.