Thursday, November 12, 2020
18 awarded, 37 honorees
ACA 37th Annual High School Achievement Award Ceremony
On Sunday, November 8th, the Association of Chinese Americans held its 37th Annual High School Achievement Awards Ceremony virtually on Zoom. Thirty-seven local Chinese American high school senior students, who will enter college next year, were recognized and 18 of them were awarded scholarships. There were around 100 people in attendance, which included the honorees, honoree’s families, scholarship sponsors, and ACA board and staff members.
Over the past 37 years, Association of Chinese Americans has recognized over 700 local outstanding high school students and awarded more than 260 scholarships to the total of $182,000. All donations from sponsors are 100% distributed to the winning students. The Association of Chinese Americans is proud to have this long history of meaningful youth education-related programming and deeply believe these year by year investments are worthy and expect very positive impacts on our next generations for a greater cause. 

Each scholarship applicant submitted a written application and met with the selection committee to obtain the official invitation from the ACA Scholarship Program to participate in the award banquet. According to the written materials of the applicants, the official transcripts from the school, and the interview results, the ACA Scholarship Selection Committee evaluated each student according to the different requirements of each scholarship category. It was a difficult selection process this year as all of the candidates were competitively outstanding in terms of academic achievements, community participation and contributions, extracurricular ability and other achievements.
The President of the ACA and the chairman of the scholarship committee, Shenlin Chen, said in the opening speech, the Covid-19 pandemic has made this a very different and difficult year, and we have all had to navigate disruptions and find new ways to learn, communicate and progress.The students who received the praises have done an outstanding job in adapting to changes and uncertainties to maintain their great achievements, and deserve to be grateful for themselves and their parents. The recognition they receive today will be a signifier of the commitment to excellence they have made to themselves, and a point of pride that will accompany them on their journey to college and beyond. 
The keynote speaker of the event was Ian Shin, PhD. Assistant Professor of History and American Culture in University of Michigan. In his speech, he talked about model minority myth, how we should understand our identity and take that as a way to create change as we continue on our path, and how model minority myth was created as a way for people of color to turn against each other. He urged the students to consider how the impact they have in the world will uplift not only their own community but all communities that are disenfranchised and disadvantaged. He encouraged them to do what they can to assist in bending the long arc of the universe towards justice. 
A whole heartfelt appreciation to our passionate scholarship donors:

Dr. Tai Chan, Esther Chung, Stephen Peng, Page Toyota Southfield and Page Honda Bloomfield, the Wong Family, Jenny Lehren, Mr. and Mrs. Leon Zheng, 168 Asian Mart, and Victor Chan.
The students who were recognized：
Victor S Bian, Ryan Duan, Patrick Halim, Victoria He, Odelia Huang, Hanna Khor, Abigail Liang, Sissie Liang, Selina Lin, Hillary Luan, Lance Arthur Moy, Matthew Pang, Soenke F Pietsch, Alice Qin, Adina Qu, Eric Song, Emily Song, Adam Sun, Ryan Tang, Ryan The, Alexander Wang, Jeslyn Wang, Andrew Wang, Allison Wei, Kimberly Westra, Oliver Wu, Sonia Xiang, Yanfei Xiao, Caroline Xu, Grace Yang, Angie Yu, Sarina Yu, Christine Zeng, Chris Zhang, Jeffrey Zhang, Angie Zhou, Jamie Zhou.
37th annual high school achievement award recipients to all award categories are:

*ASSOCIATION OF CHINESE AMERICANS SCHOLARSHIP 
Hanna Khor $1,000
Yanfei Xiao $500
Adam Sun $500

*ANDY AND OLIVE WONG MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP 
Oliver Wu $1,000

*YA-CHUN TAO CHEN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP 
Sissie Liang $500
Alexander Wang $500
Grace Yang $500

*O.S. CHAN SCHOLARSHIP for Athletic Achievement 
Caroline Xu $1,000

*O.S. CHAN SCHOLARSHIP for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Excellence 
Ryan Tang $1,000

*O.S. CHAN & ACA SCHOLARSHIP for Fine Arts 
Alice Qin $1,000

*LEHREN EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP 
Eric Song $1,000

*168 ASIAN MART SCHOLARSHIP 
Victoria He $500

*PAGE TOYOTA SOUTHFIELD AND PAGE HONDA BLOOMFIELD SCHOLARSHIP for Community Service
Ryan The $500
 
*PAGE TOYOTA SOUTHFIELD AND PAGE HONDA BLOOMFIELD SCHOLARSHIP for Overcoming Adversity
Kimberly Westra $500

*MABEL PENG MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP 
Abigail Liang $500
Jeffrey Zhang $500

*MR. & MRS. LEON ZHENG SCHOLARSHIP 
Hillary Luan $500
Lance Arthur Moy $500
All information of the ACA 38th High School Achievement Award Class 2022 will be announced in May 2021. You are welcome to follow ACA’s news platform for detailed information. We are looking forward to another great year!

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