(Left to Right) Shannon Tsumaki, Masumi Asahi, Mariko Brooks, John Saito Jr.
On July 5, 2017, the Venice-West Los Angeles JACL hosted its annual Scholarship Awards dinner to announce the recipients of the Chiyo M. Hattori Medical Scholarship and Freshman Scholarship.
The evening featured keynote remarks by 2016 Miss Western LA Shannon Tsumaki. Ms. Tsumaki shared her experience as a member of the Nisei Week Court, including traveling to Japan, Hawaii and Washington, D.C.
The recipient of the 2017 College Freshman Scholarship was Mariko Brooks, a prospective freshman at Princeton University. She graduated from Culver City High School as the Class of 2017’s salutatorian and received the Culver City High School Dave Sanchez Scholar Athlete Award. She was a starter on the varsity softball team as well as the captain and MVP of the Varsity water polo team. Ms. Brooks will attend Yale University in the Fall and plans to major in History of Medicine, Science and Public Health. She hopes to gain the skills to reinvent healthcare systems in underserved communities, specifically to serve seniors and other groups in need.
The recipient of the Chiyo M. Hattori Medical Student Scholarship was Masumi Asahi. The Chiyo M. Hattori Medical Student Scholarship is given to a student entering or currently enrolled in Medical School. Masumi is a fourth year medical student at Western University of Health Sciences in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. He graduated from C. K. McClatchy High School and graduated from UCLA where he majored in Physiology. He has received honors from the Japanese American Medical Association and volunteers his time at local health clinics through the Asian American Health Professors Student Association. Mr. Asahi is also an active volunteer at the Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo where he teaches weekly taiko classes.
The Scholarship Program and Awards Dinner Program was coordinated by Scholarship Chair, Marisa Tamaru.
