By Donna Chan Chu
“Do well and do good”
“Share the wealth and share the opportunities”
“Show kindness”
These quotes were just a few of the statements made by Pattie Fong, the keynote speaker for the 62nd Annual Merit Scholarship Awards. She is Deputy District Attorney for Yolo County and also the niece of the late March Fong Eu. Her law school degree allowed her to fight discrimination, do the right thing and get justice for the victims. We all appreciated her words of wisdom.
It was a beautiful night at Pier 29 in Alameda as we presented $23,500 in scholarships to 15 well deserving high school seniors headed for college in the fall. These students came from Alameda, Antioch, Castro Valley, Dublin, Fremont, Moraga, Oakland, San Leandro and San Ramon. Seven are going to a University of California, two are going to State Universities and six are going to private universities. Some of their majors are in engineering, the sciences, business, nursing, biology, Chinese and cinema. As the certificates and awards were given out, many of the recipients expressed their gratitude to Wa Sung and that they would give back in the future.
The first scholarships awarded were funded by the Wa Sung Perpetual Scholarship Endowment funds. The endowment funds are created by a donation of $10,000 or more as a gift, special dedication or as a memorial to honor a loved one. The newest perpetual scholarship was gifted by Tommy and Rosalie Chan. It was their way of giving back to the community. We are eternally thankful to Wa Sung members and their families who make these scholarships possible. These scholarships are the Richard & Doris Wong Lee Memorial Scholarship, Joseph & Dr. Janet Lee Memorial Scholarship, Dr. Allan Nunn Memorial Scholarship, Susie Oi Young Yip Memorial Scholarship, Dr. Joshua Fong Community Service Scholarship, Mildred L. & Walter Y. Chinn Scholarship, Victor & Bessie Mar Memorial Scholarship, Freeman & Mary Chan Memorial Scholarship, Al & Becky Wong Humanitarian Scholarship, Ann Mon Wai Lukezic Memorial Scholarship, Francis & Eugenie Young Scholarship, Dr. Clifton Fong Memorial Scholarship and Karen Dea Scholarship.
The next scholarships awarded were made possible from generous donations by our members, friends and the ShopwithScrip fundraiser. They were Mary Lee, Esther Fong-Maynard and Stephen & Theresa Woo.
Our final scholarship of the evening was the $2,500 Nancy J. Lee Scholarship for Community Service. Nancy loved children and supported their education through exposure to science and the performing arts. She was also dedicated to Wa Sung’s activities as evidenced by the large endowment she left for scholarships.
The evening ended with much applause for all the recipients and their families. We encouraged the recipients to join the Junior League and attend our other Wa Sung events.
We thank the hard work of the Perpetual Scholarship Trustees-David Chang, Roland Hui, Sandy Wong, Yvan Fung, Arnold Mew, Howard Lee and Audrey Huie.
Thank you all for attending our annual crab feed and participating in our ShopwithScrip program. Besides the Perpetual Scholarship funds these two fundraisers allow us to award more scholarships.
It takes many hours and hands to prepare this annual event. Thank you to the 2018 Wa Sung Merit Scholarship Committee-Donna Chan Chu/Chairperson, Adrienne Fong, Peggy Woon and Karen Dea. Thank you to all the essay readers-Peter Chu, Adrienne Fong, Peggy Woon, Becky Wong, Cimberly Eng-Tamura, and Deborah Pan.
At the end of her speech, Pattie Fong spoke directly to the high school seniors and said, “Register and vote and vote smart.” May we all remember whether you are a senior in high school or a senior in life, your vote counts.
See you all next year and continue to support the Merit Scholarship program, one of Wa Sung’s most rewarding community events by making a donation, attending one of our fundraisers and using ShopwithScrip.