Category Archives: school

2010 Ascend Scholarships

2010 Ascend Scholarships

channelAPA.com got contacted by the people of Ascend to reach out to our readers to let you know they’ve got scholarships. If you need money for school and you’re studying a business related major (finance, accounting, or MIS), read this post for details. You could be get some money for school.

Ascend, the premier professional organization dedicated to leveraging the leadership and global business potential of Pan-Asians, has announced five scholarships for college students engaged in business-related studies. The awards, which range from $2000 to $5000 each, are being offered by various sponsors. Scholarship winners will be recognized at a special luncheon on Sunday, August 15, at Ascend’s Third Annual National Convention in New York City.

The program is designed to award high-achieving students who are preparing to enter business-related professions, and in so doing to further Ascend’s mission of acknowledging and developing future leaders. “Ascend is proud to be able to offer these scholarships to high-achieving students through the generosity of our corporate sponsors. To help these students achieve their goals and eventually become leaders is especially important in these troubled economic times,” said Arthur Chin, National Executive Director of Ascend.

Eligibility and application requirements vary for the different scholarships, but all require applicants to be active student members of Ascend who plan to attend the convention. (Winners will also receive a free 3-day convention pass worth $150). Applicants must also write essays and furnish additional materials as described in the applications on Ascend’s web site . Don’t delay: apply today! Deadlines are approaching fast.

Ascend National Convention 2010 Preview

Lena Park (Park Jung-hyun) sings at own graduation at Columbia

Lena Park (Park Jung-hyun) sings at own graduation at Columbia

Korean R&B star Lena Park (Park Jung-hyun) performed the U.S. national anthem at the Columbia University School of General Studies graduation ceremony on May 16 ,2010 at 9 a.m. in New York City. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University School of General Studies in English and comparative literature. Completing her bachelor’s degree was always a priority, even after her professional success. Previously, Lena Park attended UCLA for two years in the late 90’s, but withdrew to embark on her singing career in Asia. She stated, “Education has always been very important to me; I had grandiose visions of college as a child, and I worked very hard in high school. So even as I withdrew from UCLA, I did so always knowing I would come back to school to finish my degree.”

The Asian American singer was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and did not learn to speak Korean until she moved to South Korea to pursue her music career in 1998. Since then, Park has released seven Korean albums, two Korean singles, three Japanese albums and seven Japanese singles. At the request of the South Korean government, She performed at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted by Korea and Japan. Lena Park plans to return to Korea in the fall to continue in her music career. Look for more music from her soon.

Lena Park (Park Jung-hyun) sings at own graduation at Columbia

Michelle Kwan Commencement Speech

Michelle Kwan Commencement Speech

It’s graduation season. Here’s an inspiring commencement speech by Michelle Kwan, the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. She received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Southern Vermont College on Saturday, May 8, 2010, where she also addressed the graduates as Commencement Speaker. “Doctor” Kwan is a Public Diplomacy Envoy for the U.S. State department and a graduate student in international relations at Tufts. A year ago she picked up her bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver.

Michelle Kwan Commencement Speech – Part 1

Michelle Kwan Commencement Speech – Part 2

Full text of Michelle Kwan Commencement Speech

Thank you very much, and good afternoon. Chairman Altes, President Gross, trustees, faculty, parents, and members of the class of 2010.

You’re very kind to invite me to this 83rd commencement of Southern Vermont College. What a joyous occasion and what a lovely place. I thank you for letting me share in the moment.
It’s been a pleasure to meet my fellow honorees, Ed Haberek and Jim Wainscott. And I appreciate President Gross’s very warm introduction. If you listened carefully to her description of my career, you might have noticed that I’m actually still a student myself – with a year to go in a master’s program. I must be the only commencement speaker in the country who just handed in three term papers. And now that I’ve got this honorary doctorate, I wonder how my professors will react if I insist that they should now call me “Dr. Kwan.” But around this campus, let’s keep it informal. Just call me Michelle the Mountaineer Maniac.

Today marks the best kind of achievement – hard earned … encouraged by others … celebrated in a moment … and lasting a lifetime. An awful lot of people go through life wishing they had gotten an education, and that’s one regret you’ll never have. In all the days to come, never forget this one. Always treasure what you accomplished at this great college. I’m delighted to express what all of your families and friends are thinking right now: You set a high goal, you made it all the way, and we’re proud of you. Congratulations.

You’re each on a new path, starting today. I know the feeling because I’m on one myself. And it’s kind of a different experience for me, because there is no ice on the road ahead. My competitive skating career is behind me, more or less. I’ve settled into the routine of student life, and mostly I like the change of pace. Now and then, people still stop me to say hello. Sometimes they recognize me, and sometimes they only think they recognize me. There was the time in a shopping mall in Newport Beach when a woman walking by did a double-take. She said, “I know you! … You did my nails!”

As far back as I can remember, skating was basically everything to me. And for a while I assumed it would always be so. When I thought of my future, I sure didn’t see graduate school in the picture. In fact, it would have seemed enough just to finish up my college degree – which by the way I managed to do, on the ten-year plan. But when you have a career like figure skating, in which 28 is considered old, you had better be flexible. Sooner or later – and probably sooner – you have to adapt, change course, and give new things a try.

Maybe some of you feel that way right now, as you close one time in your life and begin another. It’s a safe bet that you and I will face even more transitions up ahead – and graduation might be among the easier ones. My attitude is: prepare for the new, however unexpected … and don’t linger in the old, however comfortable. Sometimes we just have to move on, content with what we had, and preparing for whatever may come.

That frame of mind doesn’t always come naturally – at least it didn’t for me. I’m the type who wants to know what is next, and exactly what will be expected of me. As a skater, my whole life was about planning, practicing, and competing. Nothing was left to chance.

After a while I found myself looking at most everything that way. I remember thinking, “By the time I am 30 years old, I’ll have everything under control – my past goals met, my future mapped out, my worries gone, my life a picture of stability.” Well, I’m now 29 … and I’m thinking, “Hmm, how about we make that 40.”

I suppose this is a common mistake. Whether it’s winning a competition, finishing a degree, getting the right job, paying off a loan, or finding the perfect partner – we always imagine that at some point all the waiting, worrying, and striving will finally be over. We expect some magic moment of arrival, when all the pieces settle permanently into place, and life can finally begin.

But I’m starting to realize, and maybe you are too, that things usually don’t turn out that way. Just when we think we’ve got it all figured out, and everything right where we want it, there’s always some new challenge to contend with. So even while we pursue our goals, we shouldn’t put off enjoying life, thinking happiness waits for us at some far-off destination. We should take life on its own terms, and look for happiness in the here and now.

When I think of the men and women I most admire, one quality they share is a willingness to work and sacrifice for great and difficult things. Such people were all around me from an early age, most of them figure skaters wanting the very same thing I wanted. And there is no stronger motivation than knowing that when you’re not practicing, someone else is.

As a competitive skater, you win some and you lose some. But on good days and even on the bad ones, I found in skating what people discover in every hard endeavor, whatever it might be: that the finest moments aren’t necessarily when you finish first, but simply when you gave your best … when you did it heart and soul, and held nothing back.

In the words of the founder of the modern Olympics, “The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” This is the Olympic spirit, and it’s good advice for all of life.

Of course, in most pursuits you can’t look up on the scoreboard and know precisely where you stand. And so most of the time, in your lives and careers, you’ll be the one scoring yourself. Let the standard always be high. In any field or calling, there will be moments when you’re tempted to take the easy path – to settle for something short of your best and call it “good enough.” Never give in to that attitude, because it can only drag you down.

There is work in the world that only you can do. Give that work your all, and you will find not only advancement but self-respect. Your high standards may not always be welcome or popular. But they are always needed, and they are never worth trading away.

For all the intensity of athletics, there are no real stakes outside the arena. But you do learn something in sports that is good and true everywhere you go, and that’s the value of aspiration. There are goals that demand and deserve your absolute commitment, and I hope that you will find them in your own lives – because that is when the qualities of greatness in you are awakened. That is what inspires the discipline to sacrifice … the patience to endure … and the vision to succeed.

In every great thing we try, there are bound to be disappointments. Aspiration is what carries you through. I guess that’s why the first lesson they give you in skating is how to fall. They start with that because for anyone on skates there are a lot of hard falls up ahead, no matter how good you become. Everyone takes a spill, and the true test is how we recover. The athletes I look up to are the same kind of people I respect in general. They are not always the top finishers with the medals, but the ones with the will and courage to get up every time and keep going.

So hold on to the hopes and the sense of possibility you have today, and don’t let any of life’s tumbles take it away. Don’t be afraid to fail, because that only makes you afraid to try.

You may discover as well, no matter how far you travel, that men and women everywhere have the same basic hopes and fears that you and I have. These days, we’re often reminded of all the differences among cultures. Of course the differences are many, and they are usually to be respected.

But in my experience as a competitor across the world, and now as an envoy for our country, what always strikes me are the deeper things that people everywhere have in common. Whatever the culture and whatever the language, there are words for freedom, justice, kindness, and decency. Everyone knows what they mean. Men and women everywhere seek to live by them. And when the right spirit prevails, differences tend to fall away as people set their minds to a common purpose.

My skating team, for example, came from all over the world: My coach was American; my trainer German; and my choreographer Canadian. But whatever the differences among us, we respected each other and stayed focused on the mission. Some successes you have in life will belong to you alone. But many others will come through teamwork – and in the final tally, they may rank among the best experiences you’ll ever have.

These past few years, you’ve had the added good fortune of being here, in the beautiful town of Bennington, receiving the best of a fine American college. It’s a moment for looking back with gratitude and looking forward with confidence. It’s a day of achievement and joy, and may there be many more such days ahead for each of you.

I hope the pride and good wishes surrounding you now will carry you onward into years of accomplishment. I wish all of you success and happiness wherever life takes you. I thank you for this honor, and, like President Gross, I will always count myself a proud member of the Southern Vermont College class of 2010.

Thank you very much.

Some Asian students return to South Philly High

About a week after Asian students protest violence at South Philly High, some students are starting to return to school. They have stated that they are targets of anti-Asian discrimination and violence. Yesterday, school district officials, Asian community representatives and boycotting Asian students met to discuss how to improve the current situation. Cultural tensions at the school have gone unaddressed by the school officials (See here, here, and here.) The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) also intends to file a complaint for civil rights violations with the U.S. Department of Justice against the Philadelphia School District for failing to address the rampant violence against Asian immigrant students at South Philadelphia High School (see here.)

Asian students return to South Philly High

Graduating Senior Grace Amemiya

Japanese internment camps (Executive Order 9066) were an ugly chapter in US history, which changed the lives of many Japanese Americans. Some of the people affected were those attending school back in the 1940’s. 700 UC students were forced to leave school in the middle of their studies by the government. 89 year old Grace Amemiya was among these student. Over the weekend, she and her fellow classmates were awarded degrees nearly 70 years after they first set out to get them. The sad part is most of the former students have already passed away. Their families accepted the degrees on their be half.

Graduating Senior Grace Amemiya

Efren Penaflorida – 2009 CNN Hero of the Year

Efren Peñaflorida, who started a “pushcart classroom” in the Philippines to bring education to poor children as an alternative to gang membership, has been named the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year. His Dynamic Teen Company‘s 10,000 members have taught basic reading and writing to 1,500 kids living in the slums. Learn more about Efren Penaflorida here.



CNN Hero Efren Penaflorida talks about his program

Efren Penaflorida – 2009 CNN Hero of the Year