Applications are available starting on Monday for the Japanese American Treaty Centennial Scholarship Fund (JATCSF).
This year’s scholarship awards are offered to high school seniors of Japanese ancestry residing in Southern California who will graduate from the high school and plan to enroll in college in 2013. Children of businessmen from Japan who are temporarily in the United States are also eligible to apply. U.S. citizenship is not required.
The fund expects to award about 20 students this year. The amount of the scholarship will be $1,000 for each student.
Students who are interested in obtaining an application form are asked to send a self-addressed envelope to the JATCSF office at 244 S. San Pedro St., #410, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The form is also available by emailing office@jccsc.com.
Completed applications must be mailed to JATCSF office by Thursday, June 6, with a school transcript and a copy of College Board-certified SAT scores. If the school’s policy is to mail transcripts directly, have the school send it to the JATCSF office at the above-mentioned address. The application postmarked on the due date is acceptable. The applicants will be notified of the selection result, after evaluation of their applications.
The scholarship presentation luncheon will be held on Saturday, July 27, at Quiet Cannon Restaurant in Montebello. When selected, the students must attend the presentation ceremony in person; otherwise they will lose the privilege of being a recipient.
JATCSF was established by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California (JCCSC) in 1960. That year has historic significance as it marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese official delegation to the United States, which presented the goodwill trade treaty to President James Buchanan for ratification in Washington, D.C.
To commemorate this event, many special events were planned in 1960 in both countries. In Los Angeles, the JCCSC, at its annual meeting in January 1960, decided to create the JATCSF with an initial fund of $100,000. The organizers had envisioned that the scholarship fund would serve to encourage students of Japanese descent toward higher education and aspire them to acquire leadership skills that would be utilized in the Japanese community for the future generations.
For more information, call the JATCSF office at (213) 626-3067.
2012 Recipients
Last year’s recipients are listed below with their high schools and the colleges they planned to attend.
Darren Tatsuya Ando, El Modena, UC San Diego
Rona Matsumoto Cabrera, John Burroughs, UC Berkeley
Kaitlin Chiemi Dunlevy, Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, UC Santa Barbara
Wakana Fujiwara, Palos Verdes Peninsula, UCLA
Michael Furuya, Huntington Beach, UC San Diego
Nicole Ayaka Hamasaki, North, USC
Adori Iriyama, West, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Katherine Madoka Ishida, Glendora, UC San Diego
Jocelyn Kenmotsu, El Dorado, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Chika Matsumoto, Irvine, UCLA
Naomi Mori, Torrance, UC Irvine
Nicole Natsumi Nakagawa, John F. Kennedy Middle College, UCLA
Kiana Nakamura, River Springs Charter, CSU Fullerton
Yume Nishi, Woodbridge, USC
Mai Tiffany Nishishiba, West, Boston University
Jenna Kiyomi Schurr, California Academy of Math and Science, UC Davis
Derek Tsukahira, Venice, Santa Clara University
Hiromichi Yamamoto, La Costa Canyon, UC Berkeley