Queer A&PI Pride Scholarship Winners Achieved
New Heights With Record Number Honored at Aug. 22 A&PI Wellness
Center Gala Reception
15 youth received $16,000 in scholarships from fund created
by Edward Cheng Ming Tang
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 23, 2006 – San Francisco, Calif. --
Over 40 family members, community members, friends, and scholarship
winners attended the 7th annual scholarship ceremony held
at the A&PI Wellness Center Banyan Room. In attendance
included former scholarship recipients, Ed Tang, the founder
and donor of the Scholarship, and A&PI Wellness Center
executive director John Manzon-Santos.
Each recipient was met with boisterous applause and support
from the audience. Scholarship recipients had a chance to
speak about the meaning of the scholarship to them and their
educational and career goals – which included the sciences,
filmmaking, writing, and healthcare. One scholarship recipient
told the audience that he had postponed a trip to Japan twenty-four
hours, just to be able to attend the ceremony.
The program included remarks from Joel de Vera Moncada, a
former scholarship recipient and Scholarship Review Committee
member Tonilynn Sideco.
Sideco spoke about the scholarship review process and how
such critical voices and experiences help strengthen the queer
A&PI communities. Moncada shed light upon his personal
experience as a queer young person and how critical it is
for avenues such as this to exist so that queer A&PI youth
can become advocates. The scholarship has been a source for
affirmation for former scholarship recipients, often aiding
not only financially but also validating the multiple dimensions
of their queer A&PI identity.
Near the closing of the program, Manzon-Santos challenged
community members to support the collective spirit of the
scholarship by making personal contributions to increase its
impact. Manzon-Santos pledged a five hundred dollar contribution
himself for next year’s awards, underscoring the importance
of allies and supporters in the fight against stigma. Closing
remarks were offered by donor Ed Tang and helped capture the
essence of the scholarship when he expressed how personally
motivating and transformative the process is each year.
The scholarship is made possible from the generosity of visionary
philanthropist Edward Cheng Ming Tang and the Peninsula Community
Foundation. Tang is currently exploring the possibility of
establishing an annual scholarship that will pay for the full
cost of education for one queer A&PI Bay Area youth.
A&PI Wellness Center’s mission is to educate,
support, empower and advocate for A&PI communities –
particularly A&PIs living with, or at-risk for HIV/AIDS.
A&PI Wellness Center is the oldest nonprofit HIV/AIDS
services organization in North America targeting A&PI
communities around sexual health and HIV/AIDS services.
For more information on the Queer A&PI Pride Scholarship
and A&PI Wellness Center call 415/292-3400.
Contact: Yas Ahmed
Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center
415/292-3420 x315
Email: yasmin@apiwellness.org
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