Now in its 27th year,?? ?? Yonsei Basketball Association continues a longtime commitment to support academic achievement and community service involvement of the youth of its communities.
The Yonsei Scholarship is open to all graduating seniors who have demonstrated excellence in both areas. This year’s honorees all happen to be alumni from the Y23 Yonsei Basketball Team.
Yonsei is proud to announce this year’s honorees:
Recipient of the Frank Kiyomura Founder’s Scholarship: Aidan Kosaka
Aidan is the son of Al and Sandi Kosaka. He graduated from Kennedy High School in La Palma. He will enter Cal State University at Long Beach as a pre-kinesiology major and hopes to obtain a doctorate in physical therapy. He has been active since the age of 5 with Orange Coast Optimist. He has been involved with the Kizuna Summer Camp and Service Learning Programs, Budokan fundraising program, and is a founding member of the youth giving circle, Changes in the Community group.
The accomplishment he is most proud of is his participation with a group of friends to form Changes in The Community (CITC). Over the last four years they have been able to fundraise over $20,000 and donate it to the people and programs that were meaningful to them.
Recipient of the Sue Kamiyama Memorial Scholarship: Alyson Chang
Alyson is the daughter of Calvin and Lynn Chang. She graduated from Cerritos High School and will be attending UC Berkeley. Her current career goal includes a mixture of marketing, film production, and management. She played SEYO basketball for 13 years (including eight years on the VFW Pressure team), played four years of high school basketball (one as JV captain and three on Varsity), and was a Varsity co-captain for both basketball and track & field.
She has been involved in Kizuna’s Service Learning and Leadership programs and served as a junior counselor at the Nikkei Discovery Camp. She was a Girl Scout for 13 years at Orange County Buddhist Temple, a Daion Taiko member, Junior Young Buddhists Association (Jr. YBA) historian, and Dharma School teacher assistant. She has been an assistant coach of a Norwalk Youth Sports girls basketball team and helped with Not Your Average Basketball Camp (NYABC) clinics.
Among Alyson’s many activities at high school, the accomplishment she is most proud of is her involvement in improving mental health and student wellness on campus as the Associated Student Body (ASB) president and as National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) co-president. She was a California Scholarship Federation (CSF) co-president, National Honor Society (NHS) treasurer, and Model United Nations (MUN) under-secretary-general of finance. Alyson was also a National Merit Scholarship Commended Scholar and AP Scholar with Distinction.
Recipient of the Changes in the Community (CITC) Scholarship: Noelle Tamura
Noelle is the daughter of Steve and Jadene Tamura. She has graduated from Flintridge Preparatory School in La Ca?ada Flintridge and in the fall will be attending Pitzer College in Pomona, where she plans to major in environmental analysis and visual art. Her goal is to be active in working towards accessible, affordable, and sustainable living. She has been active with the Mustangs, Jetts and Pasadena Bruins organizations, and has help lead basketball drills for kids in Practice Makes Perfect summer camp, Oxy Winter and Monterey Park Mustangs basketball clinics.
She is proudest of her work as the design editor for the Flintridge Prep annual literary and visual arts publication known as Folio,?her ceramic ware and the Sunny Bee Custom! customization business she has established.
Recipient of the Amnet Scholarship: Mari Shigekawa
Mari, who is the daughter of John and Jennifer Shigekawa, just graduated from Palos Verges High School and will be attending UCLA. She will be majoring in cognitive science and her goal is to be involved in marketing for sports/entertainment. She has been active in the VFW organization and Novas at Torrance Memorial Hospital.
Mari is National Merit Commended Student, recipient of the Women’s Geology Award, University of Rochester Book Award for Science, junior representative in the California Scholarship Federation and vice president of membership, as well as being the founder/president of the Leis of Love Club.
She is most proud of being recipient of the Mike Boyd Captain Award from her high school for her exemplary work as captain of both the tennis and basketball varsity teams. It was in this capacity that she learned to balance her role as varsity team captain and student athlete successfully.