The Jacksonville Asian American Alliance (JAAA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2008 Jacksonville Asian American Alliance College Scholarship Award. Seven senior high school students, who are in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at their respective schools, were chosen based on academic achievements, leadership and community service. They are:
Yang Ge attends Stanton College Preparatory High School. He won 4th place in mathematics at the International Science and Engineering Fair, is a two-time Seimens-Westinghouse National Math and Science Competition semifinalist, a National Merit Finalist, and an AP National Scholar. Yang won 1st place in the National Latin Competition in Greek Literature and 2nd place in Latin Literature. He also won the Academic WorldQuest competition and led his Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) team to finish 3rd in the state in a physics competition. His leadership and community service include participation in the Children's International Summer Villages, Faces of Jacksonville Camp, the Jacksonville Chinese Association and student government. Yang plans to study political science at Harvard.
.jpg)
Meng Liu is a senior at Nease High School where she placed in the top 5% of her class and has been awarded the academic letter for excellent academic performance. An AP Scholar, Meng represented Nease at Les Congres, a French competition, and participated in a Model United Nations Conference where she was selected to speak to over 100 hundred nations during the official conference. She was a member of the 2007 Youth Leadership St. Johns, a prestigious leadership program sponsored by the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce. Meng is active with the National Beta Club and enjoys coaching the Plantation Club Porpoises Swim Team. She also volunteered at Beaches Baptist Hospital. Meng plans to major in Economics at the University of Florida.
Dianhao Luo is an AP Scholar with Distinction and a National Merit Commended Student at Stanton. Fascinated with mathematics, Dianhao actively participates in the Mu Alpha Theta competitions held in the state. His team placed 4th in Pre-Calculus and 3rd in Statistics regionals. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the National Spanish Honor Society. He tutors Spanish at Ford Elementary School through HABLA (Helping All Become Language Aware). In summer 2006, Dianhao taught English to elementary school children in Chengdu, China where he lived for 9 years before immigrating to the U.S. Other volunteer activities include helping at a local Salvation Army and visiting retirement homes with the Chinese Christian Church of Jacksonville. Dianhao will attend Duke University.
Natalie Such attends Nease High School where she is an AP Scholar and a member of the National Honor Society, National Hispanic Honor Society, National Science Honor Society and the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine. Her Spanish Instructor at Nease describes Natalie as intelligent, hard working, a caring person, talented pianist, has great personality and a capable athlete. She volunteers at Young Life, a youth group for middle and high school students at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. Natalie is President of the Society for a Better Environment and tutors at Pacetti Bay Middle School. She was selected for the highly competitive Youth Leadership Saint Johns Program and was team leader for Relay for Life, a fundraising event for research and treatment of cancer patients. Natalie will study immunology and infectious diseases at Penn State University.
Christian Tan is a senior at Paxon School for Advanced Studies where he won the Physics Award and was elected Vice President of the Mu Alpha Theta Club. As co-captain of Paxon's Junior Engineeering Technical Society (JETS) varsity team, Christian led Paxon to win 1st place in the Duval Regional Competition at UNF. As leader of the Group-4 project, he formulated procedures, analyzed and evaluated the results of an experiment involving the production of corn ethanol, sugar ethanol and methanol from raw ingredients. He was an intern at MOSH and volunteers at Jax Zoo, Rainbow Connections and the Sunshine Foundation. He has been accepted at Georgia Institute of Technology where he plans to pursue biomedical engineering.
Kristie Vu ranks in the top 2% of her class (5th out of 327 students) at Stanton with a 4.0 unweighted GPA. She was designated as an AP Scholar with Distinction and a National Merit Commended Scholar. Kristie is a member of the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society, and the Spanish Honor Society. Selected for the Young Scholars Program at Florida State University (FSU), Kristie conducted a research project on budding yeast at FSU College of Medicine. She volunteers at Nemours Children's Clinic (Radiology Department) and at Memorial Hospital (Critical Care Unit). Establishing HABLA is what Kristie considers her most significant contribution. She will enroll at Duke University in the fall to study biochemistry.
Alyssa Wang ranks 10th in a class of 506 students at Nease High School. Described by her IB coordinator as "self-directed, mature, intelligent, patient and extremely well thought of by peers and faculty," Alyssa received the Stars Award for placing in the top 3% of her class. She also received the American Youth Character Award. Known for her creativity, she won the All-Stars Cast Award at the International Thespian District's competi-tion for costumes she designed for the dramatic play, Pagliaccio. An active participant in 4-H and the American Cancer Society sponsored events, Alyssa also performs at the World of Nations and at Chinese New Year celebrations. She plans to major in pre-medicine, with Chinese and Theatre as minors, at the University of Florida.
“With the help of our generous sponsors and members, JAAA is pleased to be supporting seven outstanding young people in their pursuit of higher education," commented Doreen Flippin, Chair of the Scholarship Committee. “The scholarship program demonstrates JAAA’s commitment to education by assisting students who are bright and active in the community," she added.
Special thanks to the members of the Scholarship Review/Screening Committee for their assistance and enthusiastic support. They are: Dr. Yap Chua, Professor at the University of North Florida; Ms. Pam Kinevan, President of the Duval County Council PTA; and Ms. Rosemary Winbush, Director of the Children's Ministry at Bethel Baptist Institutional Church.
The 2008 Jacksonville Asian American College Scholarship Program is supported by the following sponsors:
