This year, the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) presented scholarship awards of $1,000 each to five graduating seniors.
A GLA delegation of five awarded the recipients outside their homes and took pictures on June 13 and 14.
The delegation consisted of Layne Sakamoto, scholarship chair; Miyako Kadogawa, scholarship and chapter fundraiser chair; Janet Okubo, president; Louise Sakamoto, vice president, programs and membership; Ayako Okada, corresponding secretary.
Awardees, listed below, are of Japanese descent and from single-parent families. The scholarship is named in memory of Hana Uno Shepard, a chapter member who was active in the redress movement of the 1980s.
• Marissa Kawate-Rodriguez, Gardena Senior High School, El Camino Community College. Major: biology (microbiology)
• Ayame Lewis, San Pedro High School, Pomona College. Major: biology and Japanese
• Katie McNamara, Mira Costa High School (Manhattan Beach), University of Washington. Major: undecided
• Lauryn Murata, Torrance High School, San Francisco State University. Major: pre-kinesiology
• Mylee Sumoge, Carson High School Academy of Education & Empowerment, UC Santa Barbara. Major: pre-sociology