PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

California • March 2026. UC Acceptance Season 2026 — A Filipino American Family Guide to UC Decisions, Campus Communities, and Fil-Am Student Organizations. fil-am, filipino, uc admissions 2026, uc acceptance, filipino student organizations, ucla, uc berkeley, uc davis, pinoy pride, college admissions. COLLEGE ADMISSIONS • MARCH 2026 UC Acceptance Season 2026: A Filipino American Family Guide to Decisions, Campus Life & Fil-Am Student Organizations Decisions are dropping now. UC Davis, Irvine, Santa Cruz, and Riverside are out. UCLA, Berkeley, and UCSB are days away. Here's what every Fil-Am family needs to know — from decision dates and SIR deadlines to the Filipino student organizations waiting to welcome your kid on every UC campus. It's mid-March. Your kid is refreshing their applicant portal every 20 minutes. Your group chat with the other Filipino parents is blowing up. Someone's nephew just got into Davis. Someone's niece is waitlist...

Vallejo, California • March 2026. Mel Orpilla: Historian, Martial Artist, and Keeper of Vallejo's Filipino Memory. mel orpilla, vallejo filipino history, filipinos in vallejo, balintawak arnis, island warrior fighting sticks, manong generation, mare island naval shipyard, fil-am history, ifugao, ilocano heritage, pamana, filipino american history month. Vallejo, CA • Filipino American History Month 2026 Marks of the Ancestors: Mel Orpilla and the Filipino Story of Vallejo Historian, martial artist, and cultural keeper Mel Orpilla has spent decades ensuring that the Filipino presence in Vallejo—one of the oldest in Northern California—is documented, honored, and passed on. Mel Orpilla — historian, Balintawak Arnis master, and keeper of Vallejo's Filipino memory. 📍 Vallejo, California In the city of Vallejo, history lives in unexpected places. It lives in faded photographs tucked into family albums, in stor...

Vallejo, CA • March 2026. Rob Bonta's Next Move: What the AG Race Means for Fil-Am Politics in California. Filipino American, California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, 2026 election, Fil-Am politics. VALLEJO, CA • MARCH 2026 Rob Bonta's Next Move: What the AG Race Means for Fil-Am Politics in California California's first Filipino American Attorney General chose the courtroom over the governor's mansion. Here's what that decision means for Filipino American political power — now, and in the decade ahead. In January 2026, Rob Bonta made a choice that surprised many California Democrats — and clarified something important about where Filipino American political power in California actually stands. With the governor's race wide open, labor unions lobbying him to enter, and a fragmented Democratic field in search of a frontrunner, Bonta said no. He would stay as Attorney General, he announced, because the fight against the Trump admini...

Vallejo, California • May 2013. Hogan High School Class of 1985 mini-reunion at Sac's Hot Dogs, Vallejo CA. hogan spartans class of 1985, fil-am reunion vallejo, filipino american community vallejo, hogan high school alumni. VALLEJO • MAY 2013 Stacie Dropped By Vtown — Hogan Spartans Class of '85 Mini-Reunion at Sac's Hot Dogs When a classmate rolls through, you show up. Stacie Apperson visited Vallejo and the crew came out — Irene, Tony, and JF at Sac's, just like old times. Stacie Apperson, Tony Palisoc, and Irene Romero — Sac's Hot Dogs, Vallejo, CA. May 9, 2013. 📷 J.F.R. Perseveranda / Nikon D5100 Some reunions are planned for months. Others happen because someone texts: "I'm in Vtown." This was the second kind — and honestly, those are the best kind. When Stacie Apperson dropped through Vallejo in May 2013, there was only one right move: rally the crew, head to Sac's Hot ...