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President's Report: A Message to Youth
Chicago JACL Chapter President Megan Nakano's remarks at the 2010 Scholarship Luncheon
Welcome to the Chicago Chapter Japanese American Citizens League’s 53rd Annual Scholarship Luncheon and thank you all so much for coming!
The Chapter’s scholarship program began in 1957 with a single annual award to the Japanese American community’s top graduating high school senior. Since then, we have expanded our program to include multiple awards in honor of important leaders in our community and have begun to extend these awards to upperclassmen as well as graduate students.
Thanks to the continued generosity of our donors, this year, we will be awarding a total of $23,000 and we are looking to expand the scholarship program further.
The scholarship committee is considering the possibility of sponsoring youth programming such as Project: Community, fellowships, “ongoing scholarships” and other educational grants.
We think this is an exciting new direction for the scholarship program and we hope that it will allow us to remain active in the lives of the students throughout the years and further incentivize your continued participation in Chapter activities as we hope that this is just the beginning of a lifelong friendship with all of you.
All of our scholars have shown academic excellence and an early commitment to our community.
But rather than rewarding you for your accomplishments thus far, we view these scholarships as an investment in your future because we understand that the fate of the Japanese American legacy is in your hands.
We don’t know what the future holds for us. The core group of leaders are aging and can no longer do all of the work that needs to be done to support grass roots organizations such as the JACL. The Japanese American population is disbursed throughout a larger geographic area these days and there are ever-increasing demands for our time, energy & money. So it will be left to you to carry out our mission to secure and maintain the civil rights of Japanese Americans and all others who are victimized by injustice and prejudice and to support cultural, educational and social values, and work to preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese American community.
The work of the Chicago Chapter is entirely volunteer and cannot continue without your help. So we need you to be proactive. Please stay in touch with us, volunteer to help at our events such as our National Convention this 4th of July weekend, connect with the local JACL chapters near your colleges and universities, start chapters of the JACL on your campuses, join other civil rights organizations at your schools, write articles for our newsletter, the JACLer, telling our members about civil rights issues that affect you, and tell us how we can become relevant in your lives.
The JACL wants you to know that your community supports you, not only financially, but holistically in all of your endeavors.
Congratulations and good luck!
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