2009 Taiwanese American Community Scholarship award Recipients

Tiffany Chan

Tiffany Chan just graduated from Los Altos High School in the top 10 percent of her class.  As a future USC student, Tiffany plans on majoring in Business and minor in Musical Theater as a full-time student in college.  In high school, she was very involved in the performing arts where she was a member of the Dance Team, Drama class, and President of the show choir, Production Choir.  She loves to dance, hang out with friends during her free time, and sing at the top of her lungs in her car.  She also loves to play the piano and sing opera.

 Patrick Chang

As a recent graduate of San Marino High School, Patrick is grateful to TACL for extending him the Community Scholarship. Patrick is a proud Eagle Scout of troop 358, co-captain of the SM Science Team, and a Platform Captain on the SM Speech and Debate Team. After school, he plays on the Varsity Tennis Team, an activity which he finds cathartic. In the fall, he will be attending UCLA, where he wants to study physiological science and anthropology to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor and giving back to the community.

Iris Chen

Iris Chen graduated from Arcadia High School and will be attending UCLA this fall, with a major in Physiological Science and minor in English. Striving to learn a bit of everything, Iris balances out her academics, music, sports, and even social etiquette by participating in percussion, tennis, and runway modeling. As for her future, she plans to become an endocrinologist to protect others from the same misery her father felt due to his numerous health issues. To her, becoming a doctor would be a privilege; and she considers a medical degree as a license to save lives.

Sherry Chen

Sherry Chen graduated in the top 3% of her class with a cumulative G.P.A. of 4.125 from West Covina High School. This fall, she will be attending Thurgood Marshall at UC San Diego. She will be majoring in Sociology to achieve her career goal as a high school counselor. Sherry was involved in Best Buddies as President for two years and Key Club as President for her senior year. Her hobbies are designing on Adobe Photoshop and blogging on Tumblr. She lives by the Marilyn Monroe quote, "Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

Agnes Chiao

Agnes Chiao is a graduate of Mark Keppel High School.  Her family immigrated from Taiwan in 1998. She said, “Even though it was difficult to adapt to a new environment, the immigration is the best choice my parents could've possibly made.”   She will attend UC San Diego Majoring in International Studies or Economics

Helen Chow

Helen Chow graduated from Arcadia High School this year. She was an officer on her school’s ASB, Orchestra Council, and Red Cross Youth Corps. She loves baking, playing the cello, watching movies, and hanging out with friends. Helen will attend UC San Diego to pursue a career as a health care administrator and plans to join a business fraternity and TASA on campus.

Samantha Cole

Samantha Cole is a graduate of John W. North High School in Riverside, California. In the fall, she will attend UC San Diego majoring in Economics with a focus in Business Management.  Samantha   has enjoyed playing the flute for the past 8 years. After college she plans to attend graduate school to earn an MBA and aspires to enter the world of corporate business.

Shelley Fu

Shelley Fu recently graduated from Walnut High School. She will be attending University of Southern California with a major in Biological Sciences. She hopes to be exposed to more topics in the medical field that might possibly capture her interest. As for now, she is aiming to become a dentist and will hopefully be able to successfully open her own practice in the future. During her free time, she enjoys cooking, swimming or simply exercising, and designing various items such as clothing and furniture.

Kimberly Guan

Kimberly Guan is a graduate of Alhambra High School, and she will be attending UCLA, majoring in biology. She hopes to become a future educator of America, specifically focusing on high school instruction. Kimberly usually spends her time surfing the Internet and watching television; however, what she really enjoy doing is reading.

Jana Hopkins

Jana Hopkins, recently graduated from Alta Loma High School and she will be attending UC Berkeley in the fall and majoring in social sciences. After Berkeley, she will continue on into graduate school. Her goal is to become a college professor in the future.

Ching Sheng Huang

A recent graduate of Alhambra High School, Ching Sheng was born in Taiwan and moved to America with his family to live with his grandparents in 2003. He will be attending UCLA this fall to study pre-law or political science. He likes sports, especially basketball; he also likes to listen to classical and pop music. Above all, he likes to absorb knowledge about history, geography, technology, and current events through books and the Internet. Ching Sheng thanks his grandparents for helping him adapt to a new environment and culture, says, “Without them, I would never be here today.”  

Priscilla Hsu

Priscilla Hsu currently resides in Monterey Park with her mother, older brother, and younger sister. She will be graduating from Bravo Medical Magnet HS in Los Angeles. In school, she participated in volleyball, drama, and student council as ASB President. She enjoys playing sports, even if she may not be very good at it, singing loudly in the car, and playing with her beagle when she has free time. Though her future is largely undecided, in the fall, Priscilla plans to major in International Relations at the private liberal arts college, Claremont McKenna.

Maria Jen

Maria Jen is 17 years old and attends Cerritos High School.  She will be attending UCLA this fall with a major in biology. In her free time, she likes to play volleyball, practice tae-kwon-do, go to the beach, hang out with friends, and go on the computer. She would like to be an optometrist or a physician. Her most memorable trip was to teach English to fifth-grade students in Taiwan two years ago. It was truly a wonderful experience!

Brandon Kuang

Brandon Kuang is a senior from Temple City High School. This fall, he plans to on attend the University of California, San Diego with a major in Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Brandon hopes to graduate from UCSD with both a bachelor degree and a master degree through the integrated BS/MS program. Following his education at UCSD, he plans on either going into biomedical research or attending medical school. In his spare time, Brandon enjoys hiking though the mountains, running, long distance biking, playing the guitar, cooking and spending quality time with friends.

Garfield Kwan

Garfield Kwan is a graduate of Glen A. Wilson High School. He will be attending UC San Diego in September where he plans on majoring in Psychology. He hopes to become a psychiatrist or a family/youth counselor. He wants to work at St. Jude’s Hospital, a non-profit hospital for low-income families, and provide for those already troubled by the world to get free recovery. He loves to play basketball, badminton, and perform community service. He plans on continuing to do all three in college and beyond.

Joselyn Lai

Joselyn Lai recently graduated from Polytechnic School in Pasadena, where she was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and a member of the varsity tennis team. She has participated in TACL Journalism Internship Program throughout high school, and has published several pieces about Taiwanese politics in the Pacific Times. This fall, Joselyn will be attending Harvard University, where she plans to concentrate in Government, with a focus in International Relations. Joselyn is excited to join the Taiwanese American student associations at Harvard as well as in the Boston area.

Anna Li

After graduating from Temple City High School, Anna Li will attend New York University as a Film & Television major. In school, she is a member of the yearbook staff as a Section Designer, the Associated Student Body as a Renaissance Commissioner, the Peer Listeners as a Red Shirt, and the French Club as a President. In May 2008, she was crowned 2^nd runner up at the Miss Temple City Pageant. Anna looks forward to finding momentous success in the film industry as a film producer or editor. She hopes that one day her achievements with cinematography will bring more recognition to the Asian community.

Yuan-Yuan Lin

Yuan-Yuan Lin first wants to thank TACL and TACL JIP for giving her the opportunity to receive this scholarship. A graduate of San Marino High School, Yuan-Yuan plans to attend UC Santa Barbara in the fall as a political science major with an emphasis in international relations. Throughout high school, she has been active on the school’s newspaper staff, from a Staff Writer to News Editor in her senior year. In her leisure time, Yuan-Yuan enjoys reading novels, instant messaging, blogging, and watching Asian dramas. In the future, she hopes to gain an insightful college experience and to intern in a governmental office.

Sheryl-vi Rico

Sheryl-vi Rico is a graduating senior and the valedictorian of Diamond Bar High School. This fall, she will be attending Brown University to study applied mathematics and cognitive neuroscience. She enjoys playing viola in her community orchestra, Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra, and her high school orchestra, which just won a Grammy. Between school and extracurricular activities, Sheryl-vi likes to sing and looks forward to joining an acapella group in college. She plans to become a doctor or a college professor.

Ivy Wang

Currently a senior at Temple City High School, Ivy has a passion for music, politics, and history. As band president and drum major, Ivy thrives on performing in front of large audiences. Her involvement as president of the Future Business Leaders of America has inspired her to achieve a MBA in the future. Ivy will be attending Wellesley College this year as a History and International Relations major, on her way of becoming the first Asian social secretary of the White House. On the side, Ivy loves museum hopping, tea parties, and coffee runs. Most importantly, she enjoys Christ every moment of her life.

Jennifer Wang

Jennifer Wang said “Graduating from my high school, Gabrielino, has never really seemed like a big accomplishment for me.” For her family, the real accomplishment is graduating from college. Thanks to TACL, she is a step closer to her dream of attending UC Santa Barbara as a Communications major. Some of her favorite hobbies include reading, crafting paper models and meeting new people. Communication with one another is valuable and Jennifer believes that there are a lot of misunderstandings in the world; Her goal is to help people everywhere communicate with one other better.

Wendy Ku

Wendy Ku graduated from Whitney High School.  She was born in Taiwan and her family immigrated to America in 1992. She participated in many activities, such as the swim team, Red Cross Club, a part time job at Micasa Bakery, and many more. She will be attending the University of California Berkeley in the College of Letters of Arts and Science, and hopes to attend the Haas Business School.