ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENT EXCELLENCE
ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENT EXCELLENCE
BY Gerrye Wong May 5, 2023
At the 53rd Anniversary of the South Bay Chinese Service Club’s ( SBCSC) annual Scholarship Dinner, one could sense the excitement in the air for the over 200 participants, guests and students who came to herald this auspicious occasion. Held at the beautiful Pearl Bay Restaurant in Fremont, this was the inaugural partnership with the Chinese Immersion Parents’ Council of Fremont (CIPCF) and the pioneering class of the Fremont Unified School District Mandarin Immersion Program(MIP).
The club should be proud of their support of Asian American students as it has awarded close to half a million dollars to Tri-City area high school students through these many years. South Bay Chinese Club (SBCC) President Dr. Clifton Der Bing, himself a one-time scholarship grant recipient, opened the program commending the graduates for their academic and extracurricular achievements as well as community service. And of course, he acknowledged the parents who guided these students to academic excellence, as well as the 2023 scholarship donors for their support of this fine program.
I thought it laudable that Chairman Jane Lin introduced distinguished guests from the local TriCity school districts for they are too often the unsung heroes who encourage and keenly show interest in the student’s individual goals to help them work towards their achievement. They are the counselors who guide the high school seniors to the schools and fields of interest they recognize are the students’ strength. Among school district guests present proud of their student honorees were Principal Jeff Evans and Career Specialists Bindu Chophia, Yvonne Ng, Maria Ponssen and Joel Quintana. Also applauding the students were Ohlone College Board of Trustees President Sue Chan, Trustee Betty Ho and Ohlone College Foundation Executive Director Bing Nguyen.
During dinner a very well done interesting 12 minute video, prepared by Past president and scholarship chairperson Joe Woo, chronicled the history of the organization, showing a visual reminder of the club’s and its student community. past involvement with the community. It was a daunting task to fit a program with 28 student honorees into a dinner program,, but I commend the students for keeping their thank yous short with brief introductions of themselves, their prospective college destinations and their career plans. Their pride and glee was evident when they received their awards from individual sponsors. This year, $46,375 was awarded to 28 high school seniors of Chinese descent at the dinner banquet.
It is always nice to see support from the local government leaders of the area in attendance to show support of this program, and there were many elected and appointed members of the Fremont area there. However, tonight the emphasis was on the students, so everyone could show them the acknowledgement they deserved for their hard work in achieving academic honors as well as service to their community. Keynote speaker was Randy Lau who brought his father on stage to show inspiration from him helped put Randy on a career path of producing s food blogs using many of his father’s old recipes.
Scholarship award plaques and the all-important grant honorarium checks were presented to the students by SBCC President Dr. Clifton Der Bing, SBCAC President Aaron Wong, IPCF President-Elect Yixin Wang and Scholarship Committee chair Jane Lin. “ The 28 scholarship winners for 2023 certainly are an impressive group of scholars,” according to Scholarship chair Jane Lin. The students. representing 5 high schools in Fremont and one Union City high school. The average unweighted GPA was 3.86, with an amazing 10, 536 community service hours amassed. Within the group were 5 National Merit Finalists, numerous AP scholars of distinctive honors, plus 5 students with perfect unweighted 4.0 GPA. There were 4 Eagle Scout Awardees, 15 receiving Presidential Service Awards, Robotic Award and Scholar Athlete Award winners, student leaders in student government, a national creative arts winner and a 4th ranked US Junior National Badminton member.
The power of women was certainly shown among these scholarship recipients, because of the 28, 19 were girls, topping the 9 male students. Yea to these impressive group of young ladies. Listed alphabetically below are the 2023 South Bay Chinese Service Club Scholarship Awardees:
Alina Chan, Aril Chang, Jessica Cheng, Carmia Deng, Alexander He, Winnie Ho, Christy Huang, Kane Hum, Olivia Koo, Esther Lau, Sarah Grace Lau, Jamie Lee, Shelley Li, Katherine Nora Liang, Hung Lin, Ray Lin, Jack Liu, Ryan Liu, Amy Luo, Nathan Massoth, Ben Qu, Selina Song, C. L. Tan, Rei Tey, Jackie Wang, Vincent Wang, Wei Wei Xiang and Jerry Yuan. Congratulations all!
We elders in the audience could be heard expressing gratefully that during their “day”, entry into the major universities was not such a challenge because with immigrant non educated parents, obviously we would not have been prepared to achieve or do as much in preparation for entry requirements set today. We all agreed high expectations from our parents plus our own independent drive to make them proud must have been our basic motivation to succeed during our academic years to conquer all odds.
So to you 2023 graduates – you have had many advantages of parental support and that of the community – go out In the world and make it a better one for all of us! South Bay Chinese Service Club saluted you with full honors – let’s hear from you in four years what you’ve done to make your own destiny and return to honor the next group of young people with equal dreams in their eyes as you had the other night!!
CHINESE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA HOSTS WINE SOIREE IN SAN FRANCISCO CHINATOWN
The spirits were high, from the attendees and the fine wines served at the Chinese Historical Society’s fundraising event at its museum . As Director Justin Hoover named it, it was an evening to combine the pairing of the finest wineries from Napa Valley with Chinese American history and art.
Besides enjoying the local wine and refreshments reflecting the magnificent bounty of the Sonoma and Napa Valley, Author John McCormick spoke about his h book, CHINESE IN NAPA VALLEY: THE FORGOTTEN COMMUNITY THAT BUILT THE WINE COUNTY.
McCormick, along with contributor Connie Young Yu, discussed his book, which makes notable mention of Buena Vista’s remarkable history of employing Chinese immigrants, far from being the accepted practice during the time, their involvement in the construction of the cellars as well as the production of its wines during the turn of the century.
Also on display was the original Jake Lee artwork depicting the early influence of Chinese American laborers in the creation of the internationally famous Napa Valley wine region. CHSA VP Walter Lum emceed the program, which included Dr Paul Gee, Napa Valley vintner still producing wines to this day. CHSA Board Chair Doug Chan welcomed all supporters of that evening’s fundraising campaign.
Loyal supporters of the CHSA and their friends packed the main exhibit hall to also enjoy the current exhibit showing the life of icon Bruce Lee..
