YMAA Retreat Center Newsletter - Issue #7

August 2008

• Announcing the First Five Students of the YMAA Retreat Center
• Thank You to Our Supporters
• Thank You to Our Neighbors in California
• 2008 Summer Seminars Finish on a Good Note

Announcing the First Five Students of the YMAA Retreat Center

Since the start of the YMAA Retreat Center project in 2005 and the announcement of the 10-year training program, hundreds of martial artists from around the world have applied to be a candidate student. Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming personally interviewed the most qualified applicants via phone, email, and in person. Many of the semi-finalists participated in working/training camps at the Retreat Center to undergo the interview testing period.

After a rigorous 3 year process, 5 applicants remain. These students will be officially accepted as Dr. Yang's disciples in a formal ceremony on August 30th, 2008, at which time they will make a vow to complete the 10-year training program with Dr. Yang. If they achieve their goal, these students will graduate in 2018 with the title of "Master of Traditional Chinese Martial Arts," and they will be amongst the forefront of the next generation of teachers helping to preserve Chinese arts and culture.

Find out more about the students on the Current Students page.

When we are able to meet our fundraising goal, we will be able to support these 5 students for the entire 10 years of the program and begin looking into enrolling another 5 students in the program.

Thank You to Our Supporters!

This nonprofit organization is made possible by supporters like you. We, at the YMAA Retreat Center, can not do this without the support of the community. Dr. Yang and the YMAA Retreat Center team would like to extend our most sincere thanks and gratitude for your help and encouragement. The ever-growing list of supporters can be seen on the Sponsors page. There are also some donors that have requested that they remain anonymous. Although we have not yet met our fundraising goals to cover all costs of the 10-year program for the 5 accepted students so far, thanks to you, we have raised enough to begin the first semester in September 2008.

Thank You to Our Neighbors in California!

At this time, we would like to thank our friends and neighbors who, for several years, have patiently helped us to build the Retreat Center. Without the hard work, skills, and dedicated efforts of these amazing people, there is no way that we would be starting the first semester on schedule.

Thank you to: Jeanette Dwyer for finding the land, Solar Bob! for help with the solar panels and installation of utilities, Kurt Kirkpatrick for helping in just about everything, Ken, Donna, and Justin Bowman for their support at the farm next door, Jack Monschke, Steve Gouley, Gary Vella, and many others. Thank you so much for helping us to make this dream a reality.

2008 Summer Seminars Finish on a Good Note

The first annual YMAA California Summer Seminars were a great success. Many attendees from all around the world participated in the week-long intensive seminars at the Retreat Center, living and training together with Dr. Yang and other like-minded practitioners. Thank you very much to those of you who participated. We enjoyed having you here, and we hope to see you again, in addition to some more new faces, next year!