The Berkeley JACL chapter recognized its 2019 scholarship winners, grant awardees and individual honorees at its annual awards luncheon. Pictured (seated, from left) are Derrick Chen, Amy Tsang, Jared Fukumae, Gemma Fa-Kaji, Keiko Masamori, Victoria Sakai and Delia Ikeda (for Grant Ikeda) and standing (from left) are Mari Nakamura, Cubby Nakamura, Reiko Nabeta, Tara U., Neal Ouye, Luke Williams, Garrett Hill, Cole Huster, Brennen Norman and Shuji Kamita. (Photo: Eric Kawamura)
The chapter recognizes its scholarship, Pioneer, grants and Youth Leadership awards recipients.
The Berkeley JACL chapter awarded scholarships to 12 high school seniors, presented its Pioneer Award to Neal Ouye, bestowed grants to three organizations and recognized the chapter’s first Youth Leadership Award recipient Tara U. during its April 28 Awards Luncheon, which was held at the Richmond Country Club in Richmond, Calif.
The chapter awarded scholarships to 12 high school seniors in recognition of their academic achievements, community involvement, school activities, work history, JACL involvement, written essay, letter of recommendation and group interview.
Following are this year’s recipients:
Derrick Chen (Albany High School) will attend the University of California, Santa Cruz, as an undeclared major.
Gemma Fa-Kaji (Berkeley High School) will attend the University of Southern California as a history major.
Jared Fukumae (Albany High School) will attend California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, as an agricultural science major.
Garrett Hill (Albany High School) will attend California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and major in agricultural science; he also is the recipient of the George/Yoshimi Nakamura Memorial Scholarship.
Cole Huster (Berkeley High School) will attend the University of Michigan as an undeclared major; he also is the recipient of the Dan/Kathleen Date Memorial Scholarship.
Grant Ikeda (Livermore High School) will attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and major in aerospace engineering; he is the recipient of the Terry Yamashita Memorial Scholarship.
Shuji Kamita (Ygnacio Valley High School) will attend San Diego State University as an undeclared major; he is the recipient of the Bea Kono Memorial Scholarship.
Keiko Masanori (Northgate High School) will attend the University of Nevada, Reno, as a nursing major.
Brennen Norman (El Cerrito High School) will attend the University of California, Santa Cruz, as an undeclared major.
Victoria Sakai (San Leandro High School) will attend San Diego State University as a business marketing major; she is the recipient of a scholarship sponsored by chapter member Carolyn Adams.
Amy Tsang (Albany High School) will attend Chabot College as an undeclared major.
Luke Williams (Albany High School) will attend the University of California, Santa Cruz, as an environmental science major.
In addition, the Berkeley chapter recognized memorial scholarship donors: the Beatrice Kono family (George Kono), the Terry Yamashita family (Reiko Nabeta), the Dan/Kathleen Date family (Gail Yamamoto) and the George/Yoshimi Nakamura family (Ken, Mari and Cubby Nakamura)
This year’s Pioneer Award recipient was Neal Ouye, who was honored for his longtime service to the Berkeley chapter (past president, board member, newsletter editor) and for demonstrating the award’s purpose, which is to recognize those with the vision, compassion and energy to lay a foundation for building a strong Japanese American community, as well as linking past leaders with future leaders.
Also during the awards luncheon, grant awards were presented to the Nikkei Student Union at the University of California, Berkeley, for their assistance with attendance at the Manzanar Pilgrimage; the Oakland/Fukuoka Sister City Assn. to enable Oakland public school children to participate in the 2019 Summer Asia Pacific Children’s Convention in Fukuoka; and the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Action Group to help defray costs for participants and providers to attend this educational conference to learn more of the dangers of alcoholism to the fetus during pregnancy.
And Tara U. was presented with the chapter’s initial Youth Leadership Award to recognize her leadership in organizing and implementing key youth activities for the Berkeley chapter.
This year’s scholarship committee included Mark Fujikawa, Tiffany Ikeda, Vera Kawamura, Kana Kobayashi, Ryan Matsuda, Neal Ouye, Al Satake, Sharron Sue and Chair Ron Tanaka.
