The Florin Sacramento Valley Japanese American Citizens League proudly announces the selection of Lauryn DeGuzman as its 2019 scholarship recipient. Selection criteria included academics and scholastic honors; extracurricular activities including leadership positions, community involvement, work history and Japanese cultural activities; JACL involvement; and community service as shown in the written application, letter of recommendation and personal interview.
Lauryn DeGuzman
DeGuzman graduated recently from Cosumnes Oaks High School in the Elk Grove School District, where she carried a 4.2 GPA.
While maintaining her academic record, she participated in track and field, softball, National Honors Society, California Scholarship Foundation and the Polynesian, Filipino, Triathlon and Photo clubs.
She also has studied Japanese at her high school during her academic career, including Japanese 4 Honors. Through this class, DeGuzman has not only learned the language but also Japanese history and culture, which will be useful on a family trip to Japan this summer.
Her scholastic honors included Academic Accolades (3.75+ GPA), Student Athlete Award freshman-senior years and a nomination this year to the All Academics softball game in the Colorado Fireworks Softball Tournament.
Based on her strong academic achievements and softball abilities, DeGuzman has earned academic and softball scholarships to Minot State University in North Dakota.
Outside of school, DeGuzman attended Jan Ken Po Gakko, a Japanese culture summer program and has returned to help as a teacher assistant for the past four years. She is also a member of the Junior Young Buddhist Association at the Sacramento Buddhist Church and has worked as an office assistant at Nishio and Yamada Optometry.
In his letter of recommendation, Michael Thomas, DeGuzman’s softball coach, wrote: “ … Lauryn has been an integral player on my travel softball team for the past five years. She has been a proven leader and was instrumental in us winning a National Championship in 2018. … I would describe Lauryn as a quiet leader. You may not always hear her, but her actions speak volumes. She is the player who will show up early and stay late to make sure everything is done …”
Florin SV JACL congratulates DeGuzman; her parents, Cindy and Victor DeGuzman; and grandmother, Aileen Nishio, on her many achievements and wish her well as she embarks on the next chapter of her life.
