2008 Taiwanese American Scholarship Recipients

Monica Chan

Born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Monica is graduating from Alhambra High School and will be attending University of California, San Diego in the upcoming fall. She plans to major in engineering; although she is still unsure about which specific engineering field she wishes to enter. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, reading, and basically having fun with her friends. Monica has won many awards among them are 1^st and 2^nd Place Solo Math, 2^nd Place JV overall Team Award. She has also been the president of Physic Club.

Yu-Ting Chiu

Yu-Ting Chiu is a senior at Arcadia High School.  She was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1989 and was raised in a rural city named Hsinchu.   She likes to listen to music and watch Japanese dramas.  She will be attending University of California, Irvine.  She will be majoring in Biological Science and plans to be a Pharmacist.

Yu-Ting has been involved in many community activities. She was president of Biology for All Club, historian for Chinese Club, member of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and Key Club etc.

Nicole Huang

Nicole Huang, Diamond Bar High School class of 2008, will be attending UC Berkeley in the fall to study Business. After college, she plans to attend graduate school and eventually start her own multinational business. After a successful business career, Nicole wants to use her experience and resources to give back to the community by organizing her own non-profit organization to help the less fortunate. Nicole hopes to always give back to the community because it gives her joy to know that her efforts can save a person’s life. With the Taiwanese American Citizens League as her role model, she hopes to also be able to give scholarships to deserving students in the future.

Pamela Hung

Pamela Hung is a recent graduate of San Marino High School.  There, she was an active student as president of Key Club, a philanthropic organization.  With community service, she learned the importance of giving back and matured into a leader.  A National Merit Finalist and captain of the Math Team, Pamela has also exemplified academic strength.  This fall, Pamela will attend Northwestern University majoring in cognitive science while participating in the Mathematical Methods in Social Sciences program.  She is open to new experiences and hopes to conduct social research and will continue community service in the future. 

Alice Kwan

Alice Kwan was raised in Los Angeles for six years before moving to Alhambra. She now attends Alhambra High School and is co-news editor of her biweekly school newspaper “The Moor.” This May, Alice organized a Taiwanese American Heritage Week Showcase in Alhambra Public Library. This coming fall, Alice will be attending UC Irvine, majoring in Public Health with a minor in either chemistry or business administration. Although unsure about her future career plans, she does anticipate working in a government health agency, such as in a state governor’s office or the World Health Organization. Her hobbies include collecting postage stamps, swimming, reading, listening to music, and hanging out with friends. Favorite bands: The Beatles and Death Cab for Cutie!

Deborah Lai

Deborah Lai is 17 years old. Having graduated from Vivian Webb School, a boarding high school in Claremont, she will be attending Brown University in the fall and majoring in International Relations. In her spare time, she enjoys pole-vaulting, playing tennis, painting, reading novels, and eating authentic Asian cuisine. This summer, she will be interning at Barbara Boxer's office as well as working at the Montecito Fine Arts College of Design. And while her future career plans remain undecided, she is certain that, whatever endeavors she embark on, they will include being active in the Taiwanese American community.

Sharnae Lewis

Sharnae L. Lewis is a senior at West Covina High School.   She is very actively involved within her community and high school. She is Black Student Union Secretary and a Renaissance Leadership Member.  She plans to attend Cal Poly Pomona and major in Psychology.  Her future career goal is to become a high school counselor. Her hobbies are dancing, writing, reading and listening to music.

Sharnae had contributed numerous hours in community service, she has  involved with Renaissance Leadership Club, Black Student Union, High School Step Squad, etc.

Joann Lin

Joann Lin, recently graduated from Diamond Bar High School. She will be attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the fall. During her high school career, she enjoyed her time writing in the editorial section of the school newspaper, building a solar boat, volunteering, and competing in Model United Nations. Through these activities, she found her dedication to help both the environment and people. Therefore, she hope to pursue an environmental engineering major so she can achieve her goal in life to specialize in creating simple low-energy inventions that are both low cost and environment-friendly for people in developing nations.

Diane Nguyen

Diane Nguyen is currently a senior West Covina High School. She is taking six AP classes this year and have maintained above a 4.0 GPA for both semesters. In addition to keeping an exceptional academic profile, she has committed herself to community service. This year, she is the President of Interact Rotary and was heavily involved in a variety of community services that ranged from  international to community levels. She enjoys working with others to make a difference in our society. She will be attending UCLA in the fall majoring in environmental science. Her hobbies include tennis, badminton and watching Asian dramas. In college, she hopes to continue to play school sports and get involve with the variety of clubs UCLA has to offer. Her future goals include one day fulfilling her dreams of becoming a lawyer. She hopes to make a difference in this world for not just people she cares about today but the future generations.  She also thanks the Taiwanese American Community Award Committee for awarding her this wonderful honor.

Paul Shao

Paul Shao was born in Taiwan and moved to the United States with his Mother when he was 14. During his time at Temple City High School, he found a special interest and passion for science. He will be majoring in Human Biology at UC San Diego, and plans to go to a medical school. He likes to help others and love to be involved in school and community activities. His favorite hobby is playing the guitar. Paul had been very active in many fields. He was vice president of Multicultural Club, Cabinet of  Red Cross Club, ASB Outreach Commissioner,  Model United Nations, TCHS Peer Listener Program, etc. He has helped his family going thru the hardships most immigrants experienced, and demonstrated his skill of problem solving.

Beverly Tam

As a dedicated member of student government at Alhambra High School, she enjoys keeping busy every minute of the day.  She enjoys volunteering at community services and interacting with others. She intends to use the leadership and people skills she has acquired throughout her four years of high school as she pursue a career in business. This fall she will be attending the University of California San Diego and plan to major in their prestigious economics program. Furthering her education in business will open the doors to many opportunities in life, and she is confident that she will succeed.

Daisy Wang

Daisy Wang would like to thank TACL for giving her the great honor of this scholarship. She currently goes to Walnut High School. She will be studying biology in UC San Diego in the fall. She would like to become either a dentist or a veterinarian in the future. She would also like to study abroad in Spain to enlighten her vision and learn the language thoroughly. Her hobbies include running, dancing, reading, playing Chinese instruments, drawing, etc. Lastly, she would love to participate more with TACL in the future.