The Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) has awarded $400,000 in scholarships from its 2006 scholarship program to 200 students, of which 32 are from the Pacific Region.

APIASF is the primary and largest national organization solely devoted to providing scholarships for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs).

All of the scholarship recipients will be freshmen this fall and will enter an accredited college or vocational school. The recipients represent 46 of the 50 U.S. states and several of the U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.

Scholars were selected from more than 6,000 applicants, and include students from a diverse range of Asian and Pacific Islander American communities such as Asian Indian, Bangladeshi, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Guamanian/Chamorro, Hmong, Indo Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Malyasian, Maori, Marshallese, Micronesian, Native Hawaiian, Nepalese, Okinawan, Pakistani, Palauan, Samoan, Tahitian, Taiwanese, Thai, Tongan, Vietnamese, and Yapese.

More than 70 percent of the recipients were women, and more than 40 percent of the awardees were from ethnic groups that – according to the U.S. Census Bureau – have lower college graduation rates than the overall population.

From the Pacific Region, the 2006 APIASF scholarship recipients are: AMERICAN SAMOA (2) – Kennedy Nofoagatotoa, and Nicholas Peters; NORTHERN MARIANAS ISLANDS (1) – Annrita Benavente, Saipan; FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA (6) – Cari Gajdusek, Yap; Steen Harris, Chuuk; Tanya Lingesoh, Yap; Katielyne Nianugmwar, Yap; Angeline Tiningdad, Yap; and undisclosed recipient, Yap; GUAM (5) – Andrew Dames, Hagatna; John Carlos Feltham, Barrigada; Sonya Naganathan, Toledo; Neeraj Nagarajan, Tamuning; and Amber Tajalle, Barrigada; HAWAII (23) – Danilo Castillo, Waipahu (O’ahu); Joann Daoang, Honolulu (O’ahu); Lilika Fonua, Laie (O’ahu); Dannah Gonzales, Honolulu (O’ahu); Carolyne Kama, Honolulu (O’ahu); Jasmine Knight, Kailua (O’ahu); Caroline Kobayashi, Honolulu (O’ahu); Kanani Kong, Aiea (O’ahu); Michelle Lam, Honolulu (O’ahu); Sara Le, Honolulu (O’ahu); Sarah Matsumura, Waianae (O’ahu); Karen Nakagawa, Honolulu (O’ahu); Michelle Nguyen, Honolulu (O’ahu); Tu Nguyen, Lahaina (Maui); Daniel Place, Kaunakakai (Molokai); Natalia Reyes, Mililani (O’ahu); and seven undisclosed recipients.

Robert Underwood, former Congressional Delegate from Guam, is Chair of the APIASF Board. A lifelong educator, he said, “It is remarkable how many of our young people in Guam and the surrounding islands will win awards if given the opportunity. It is our obligation to continue to find new opportunities for the next generation of islanders.”

“APIASF is fulfilling a need in the community,” said Wai-ling Eng, APIASF’s Vice Chair and an owner-operator of McDonald’s restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. “We are only in our second year as an organization, yet we received 6,000 applications this year. Our vision is to support all Asian and Pacific Islanders who wish to pursue higher education.”

ABOUT APIASF

Founded in 2003, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) is the primary national organization that promotes the pursuit of higher education among Asian and Pacific Islander American students by distributing scholarships to qualified first-year undergraduate college, university, and vocational school students.

APIASF has the support of major corporations including Abercrombie & Fitch, AT&T, The Asian McDonald’s Owners Association, The Boston Consulting Group, The Citigroup Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, Federal Express, the General Mills Foundation, Hilton Hotels Corporation, IW Group, Inc., Macy’s, McDonald’s Corporation, MetLife Foundation, the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, Nationwide, Nissan USA, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Sodexho USA, Southern California Edison, Southwest Airlines, Toyota, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Washington Mutual, and Wells Fargo.

APIASF is also supported by several major scholarship programs, including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the United Negro College Fund, the American Indian Graduate Center Scholars and the Gates Millennium Scholars/APIA.

In 2005, the first year scholarships were awarded, APIASF distributed $330,000 in scholarships to 165 students.

For more information about APIASF, log on to www.apiasf.org.

Source: APIASF Media Release

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 7:11 am and is filed under Scholarship. Tags: Amber Tajalle, American Samoa, American Scholarship Fund, Angeline Tiningdad, APIA, Asian McDonald’s Owners Association, Caroline Kobayashi, Citigroup Foundation, College, Commonwealth Day, Education News, General Mills Foundation, Guam, Hawaii, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Honolulu, IW Group Inc., J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, Jasmine Knight, Joann Daoang, John Carlos Feltham, Karen Nakagawa, Kaunakakai, Lahaina, MetLife Foundation, Michelle Lam, Michelle Nguyen, Micronesia, Natalia Reyes, Neeraj Nagarajan, Nicholas Peters, Nissan USA, Northern Marianas Islands, Robert Underwood, San Francisco, Sara Le, Sarah Matsumura, Scholarship, Southwest Airlines, Student, Tanya Lingesoh, The Asian McDonaldâ, The Citigroup Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, Toledo, Toyota, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Virgin Islands, United Negro College Fund, United States, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo, Yap, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.