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2008
Taiwanese American Community Scholarship Award Recipients
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Miss Yvonne Y Chen
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Westfield High School
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Miss Tiffany J Chu
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Quince Orchard High School
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Miss Joanna Y Cornell
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Thomas S. Wootton
High School
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Miss Dara J Downs
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James W. Robinson
Secondary School
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Miss Jessica Jang
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Winston Churchill High School
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Miss Manjot K Jassal
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James W. Robinson
Secondary School
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Mr. Michael J Schwartz
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Walter Johnson High School
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Miss Maninder K Sohi
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Centreville High School
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Miss Ji Y Son
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Thomas S. Wootton
High School
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Mr. Arjun Srinivas
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Richard Montgomery High School
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Miss Lillian Tsai
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Winston Churchill High School
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Miss Lina C Yeh
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Oakton High School
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(In alphabetic order)
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Yvonne Chen
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 Yvonne Chen, a senior at Westfield High School,
has been contributing to the community all her life through her musical talents.
She has won numerous awards from national and international piano
competitions, allowing her to perform at venues such as the Warner Theatre and the U.S. State
Department. Chen has used her talents to accompany her school's five choirs
as well as the community HaiTien Chorus, perform for and accompany a church
service at Reston Manor Care, and teach beginner students on piano and
flute. Aside from her musical
achievements, Chen has been able to succeed academically, being on the
Summa Cum Laude honor roll all four years and serving as the Community
Editor for her school's nationally acclaimed yearbook, The Guardian. Having travelled to New York weekly for Julliard’s
Pre-College Division the past two years, Chen has decided to continue her
studies at The Juilliard School to get a Bachelors of Music in piano
performance. There she hopes she will be able to grow in her playing so
that she can reach out to more people.
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Tiffany Chu
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 Tiffany Chu’s three passions in life are science,
art, and music. In this past year,
she participated in the Howard Hughes Biomedical Program and studied, at
NICHD (National Institutes of Child Health and Development), the causes of
uterine fibroid growth and development.
At the end of the program, she published an abstract on whether this
certain enzyme plays a role in fibroid growth. She has also participated in a variety of
other science related activities such as the Fun with DNA program in middle
school, Science Montgomery, and multiple Science Inquiry Conferences. In the area of art, she is a sculptor,
with her medium being clay. During
her sophomore year, she founded the Quince Orchard Art Club, and in her
junior year, became the secretary of the National Honors Art Society. Finally, her love for music pushed her to
continue playing piano for the past twelve years. She likes to perform for others, and so,
every now and then, plays for the elderly at the Asbury Nursing Home. Other organizations that she is
participant of include the drama club, Mu Alpha Theta, CAPSA (Chinese
American Parent and Student Association), Shady Grove Junior Volunteer
Program, and National Honors Society.
She hopes to continue pursuing her passions in the University of Virginia,
where she will be attending this fall.
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Joanna Cornell
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 Joanna Cornell is a bubbly, optimistic girl who
is passionate about life. She
currently attends Thomas
S. Wootton
High School, where
she is the Captain of the Mock Trial Team and President of the Spanish
Honor Society and the Foundation for the Children of Atyrá, and also plays
important roles in activities such as Model UN, National Honor Society,
National Science Honor Society, and Student Homeroom Advisory Promotes
Excellence. Ever since she was
little, Joanna has been actively playing the piano, and loves it. On the weekends, she can often be found
volunteering for the local historical society, campaigning, or working at
her two jobs. She loves politics and
has spent her last two summers on Capitol Hill, serving as an intern and page. This year, she also had the opportunity
to serve as a page in the Maryland Senate, a very different experience from
serving in the national legislature, but equally exciting. Joanna is ecstatic about attending Yale University this fall, and would like
to thank her wonderful family for always supporting her.
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Dara Downs
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 Dara Downs is very honored to have been chosen to
receive the Taiwanese American Community Scholarship Award. Dara is a
senior at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia.
She is a member of the National Honor Society and has received multiple all
A and A/B Honor Roll recognitions. She was also a Captain of the field
hockey team and a member of the track and soccer teams. She is strongly
involved at her church where she is a member of the leadership team. Dara’s
favorite community projects were The Appalachian Service Project in West
Virginia/Kentucky and The Jeremiah Project in Southern
Virginia. Dara has attended these home repair focused projects
every summer since she was in seventh grade. While in high school, Dara
earned her Silver Award, through Girl Scouting, by organizing and leading
community service projects with the local middle school youth group at Fairfax United Methodist
Church. Dara will be
attending Wake
Forest University
as she looks to further her education. She would like to thank God for his
continual blessings, her parents, her brother, her friends and the
Taiwanese American Community Award Committee for selecting her for this
award.
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Jessica Jang
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 Jessica Jang is currently a senior at Winston Churchill High School. In school, she actively participates in
the many clubs and programs Churchill has to offer. Throughout high school, Jessica has been
a member of the Academy
of Creative and
Performing Arts and the National Honors Society. She was Vice President of Code Pink,
Future Business Leaders of America, and is now Co-President of Club
Friendship. Through these organizations,
she has helped raised money for the disaster relief of Katrina and gave
dinner to the less fortunate on Thanksgiving. Even as a freshman at Churchill, as part
of a member of SAJE, she presented information on the Chinese Holocaust to
juniors and seniors of her school.
Outside of school, Jessica is a very committed violin and piano
player. Ever since fifth grade, she
has participated in state competitions for both instruments. She was a finalist in the Chinese
International Competition for the piano, and a third place winner in the
Gottlieb Competition. She has also
been a member of the Maryland Classical Youth Orchestra since 7th
grade. In the fall, she will be
attending Emory College of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She hopes to study business and attend Goizueta Business School
in the future.
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Manjot Kaur Jassal
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 Manjot Kaur Jassal was born in Fairfax
Virginia in 1990 and is currently a senior
at James W. Robinson
Secondary School. She
is compassionate, morally driven, intellectually hungry, and hugely
talented across a tremendously wide array of scholastic and personal
interests.
She is one of the very
most ‘textured’ and high profile students within the entire student body,
and her truly outstanding list of scholastic, extracurricular, and community affiliated accomplishments are
based upon a character set of integrity and honor. Manjot is a member in
good standing of National, Math, and Spanish Honor Societies together with
inclusion in the National Society of High School Scholars; and she has won
a host of academic excellence awards ranging from nationally sanctioned
business competitions to prestigious State Science Fairs.
Within the school she
has taken on, and flourished, in the important work needed to lead various
extracurricular clubs and societies such as the Minority Students of
Robinson where she currently holds the title of President. She has
organized walks for multiple sclerosis, conducted food drives for local
shelters, raised awareness for Black History Month with media campaigns,
and volunteered her valuable time at a range of hospitals and religious
organizations.
Manjot plans on pursuing
her education at Howard
University where she
has been accepted into a 6 year BS/MD program with scholarship. Her parents
and younger sister, Harleen, are extremely proud and look forward to see
this compassionate young woman evolve into a passionate medical
professional.
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Michael Schwartz
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 Michael Schwartz is a senior at Walter Johnson
High School. At WJ, Michael has been very involved in student
government, serving as Sophomore Class President, Junior Class President,
and SGA President. He has loved
serving the school and community, whether it has been organizing school
events or leading fundraisers.
Michael is a part of the APEX Scholars Program, was a Maryland
Distinguished Scholar Semi-Finalist, a National Merit Commended Scholar,
and an AP Scholar with Distinction.
Michael has played on the Varsity golf team since his sophomore
year, and was a starter for the past two years. He has also enjoyed serving as the Peer
Mediation President, tutoring at Farmland
Elementary School,
and interning at Management Systems International, an international
development firm based in DC.
Michael is also proud to have won the “Stock Market Game,” and hopes
to study economics and government next year. Michael is excited to attend Dartmouth College in the fall.
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Maninder Sohi
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 Maninder Sohi is a senior at Centreville High School
in Clifton, Virginia. Maninder participates in
numerous extracurricular activities including being an active member of the
Science, Social Studies, Business and National Honor Societies.
Additionally, she is a committed volunteer at INOVA Fair Oaks
Hospital. She has
been a member of the varsity tennis team for the past three years and was
co-captain her senior year. Last summer, she attended Governor’s School for
Agriculture, a unique research experience she will never forget. Aside from
academics, she enjoys reading, traveling, playing tennis, and spending time
with friends. Maninder will be attending the University of Virginia
this coming fall.
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Jiyeon Son
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 Jiyeon Son is currently a senior at Thomas S. Wootton
high school. As a motivated and active student, Jiyeon loves to get
involved in various activities in the community. She is the president of
the school’s debate team, as well as a leader in Patriot Ambassadors,
Science National Honors Society, and Chemathon. Her community service
includes volunteering at a local hospital, Teen Court, and her church. She also
loves to play the flute and participates in several orchestras. Every
summer, Jiyeon is given a priceless opportunity to go on a church missions
trip to Mexico,
where she performs community service in blighted villages. In addition to
the missions trips, Jiyeon works at the National Institutes of the Health
as a summer intern, which has proven to be one of the most valuable
learning experiences of her life.
Jiyeon is excited to
head off to Brown
University next fall.
She truly appreciates the support and encouragement from her family and
friends because she could not have come this far without them!
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Arjun Srinivas
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 Arjun Srinivas is currently a senior in the
International Baccalaureate Program at Richard Montgomery
High School. He has
dedicated much of his time to helping and teaching others in the school
community, and has established a tutoring organization called the Peer
Mentoring Club which he has led for 3 years. In past summers, he has
volunteered as a counselor for local day camps and has interned in an
educational branch of the Smithsonian Mueseum. Additionally, Arjun has
played varsity lacrosse for two years and is an active member of the
National History Club. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, travelling,
playing sports, watching movies, playing poker, and sleeping.
Arjun is excited to
attend Duke University next year, and hopes to
major in physics and economics. In the future, he hopes to continue helping
others through tutoring and mentoring programs
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Lillian Tsai
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 Lillian Tsai is a senior at Winston Churchill
High School who loves
to travel, eat, and talk to her friends. This year she started taking dance
classes and absolutely loves it. She plays cello in MCYO and formed a
musical group that performs at local senior homes. She also volunteers
regularly at the Washington DC Taiwanese Language School. Last summer she
interned at MedImmune and her sophomore summer she conducted a research
experiment at the National Institutes of Health. Her project won second
place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which was
one of the best weeks of her life.
She is president of Biology
Club and Science Honor Society. She is also a member of the English,
French, Math, and National Honor Societies. Lillian's favorite class this
year is AP Literature and wants to say that her teacher, Mrs. Goodwin, is
amazing. Lillian is looking forward to going to Taiwan,
China, and Japan
this summer and spending the last few weeks with her friends and family.
She will be majoring in molecular biology with a certificate in creative
writing at Princeton
University this fall.
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Lina Yeh
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 Lina
Yeh attends Oakton High School in Vienna, VA,
and has been active in her school as well as in her community. At Oakton,
Lina serves as the President of National Honor Society and Secretary of
History Honor Society. In addition to Math Honor Society and French Honor
Society, Lina participates in Science Olympiad, and has competed at the
State Competition for two years. In addition to school clubs, Lina is a
Captain of the Varsity Tennis Team, and helped her team earn the Concorde
District Champion title. She will be competing at Regionals. Music is also
another one of Lina’s passions. Having played the piano for 13 years and
the violin for 8 years, Lina is currently in the Chamber Orchestra of
Oakton High School. In her 13th year of Girl Scouts, Lina has earned
several service awards, including the Silver Award and the Silver Trefoil.
Through Girl Scouts, Lina has learned the value of community service. Lina
has served as a National Delegate to the National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, volunteered as a
Congressional Aide, and has served as an Association Delegate for three
years. Lina would like to thank her parents, brother, Mrs. Kendrick, and
Mrs. Reiners who have supported and helped her to earn the Taiwanese
American Community Scholarship Award.. Lina is excited to attend College of William and
Mary next year.
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2008 Taiwanese American Community Scholarship Award
In
order to enhance the relationship between Taiwanese American and the
community where Taiwanese American lives and to provide encouragement and
inspiration of young Americans to excel in leadership, community services as
well as academic achievement, the Taiwan Culture Center (TCC) of the greater Washington area is
proud to sponsor the “Taiwanese American Community Scholarship Award”. The TCC Board of Directors (BOD) invites
all qualified senior students to apply for this scholarship.
The
application process, qualification and evaluation criteria are listed below:
Qualification & Application
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All graduating high school
seniors of the ten selected schools are eligible to apply. One or more awards will be given to each
chosen school, provided there are sufficient applicants from that particular
school.
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All graduating high school seniors in the Washington DC
metropolitan area who are not from the ten selected schools are also eligible
to apply. There will be one or more
awards in this (At-Large) category if there are at least five applicants in
this category.
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The “Taiwanese American Community Scholarship Award” is open to all qualified students from all
ethnic groups. Limited to citizens and permanent residents of USA.
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The application forms are available at the following web link: http://www.TaiwanCultureCtr.org/tacsa/.
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The deadline of application is generally in mid-April of each year.
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The applicant shall provide a copy of the application form and each
of the following documents:
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One
recommendation letter in a sealed envelope from the applicant’s guidance
counselor or teacher
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One
official high school transcript
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List
of community activities and services that the applicant had participated
including the duration
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Resume
including extra curricula activities
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A
written essay of no more than 500 words on “My Most Rewarding Experience of
Participation in Community Services”.
Evaluation criteria
Leadership (30%); Community
Activities and Services (30%); Extra Curricula Activity (15%); Academic
Achievement (15%); Essay (10%)
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