JACL Chicago Scholarship Program

John Iwaoka Memorial Scholarship

2020 Awardee Profile – Eriko Darcy

Eriko Darcy is this year’s recipient of the John Iwaoka Memorial Scholarship. Eriko is a  graduating senior at the Latin School of Chicago. This fall, she will begin her undergraduate education at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

Eriko is an Illinois State Scholar, varsity track and field athlete and, foremostly, a gifted pianist.  Her school’s College Counseling Office describe Eriko as a “piano prodigy, a virtuoso with an undeniable gift and a truly rate talent.”  Eriko began playing piano and competing at age four. She is the recipient of numerous awards and has won many competitions, including First Place at the Chicago Area Steinway Young Artists Competition, performing with the Round Rock Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the Texas State International Young Artists Piano Concerto Competition, and winning the 2019 Steinway Junior Piano Competition.  Eriko has performed twice at Carnegie Hall: as a First Prize winner of the 2011 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, and as the winner of the 2010 American Fine Arts Festival and with the Civil Orchestra at Chicago Symphony’s Orchestra Hall.  In addition, Eriko lends her talent by performing for events and fundraisers at her church and other community organizations.

Despite the rigors of her practice and performance schedule as a pre-professional piano player, Eriko is also involved in several extracurricular activities at her school.  She is active in her school’s Asian Student Alliance, an affinity group that serves as a safe space for students who identify as Asian to discuss personal experiences, Asian representation in the media, and cultural heritage.  She is also an executive board member of Latin’s Initiative for Ethics, where she helped organize school-wide discussions on ethics in speech and the media, airing polarizing and opposing viewpoints and opinions.  As part of the 2018 – 2020 Latin in Rwanda team, she organized and attended a summer camp for youth with HIV/AIDs living in Rwanda.  The camp’s goal was to provide a haven from tumultuous relationships at home and social stigmas regarding HIV/AIDS for the youth.  Eriko is also a member of the Student Advisory for Global Exchanges, advising the school administration on improving the foreign exchange experience and welcoming foreign students. 

Eriko grew up spending many summers in Japan, and is thus fluent in English and Japanese, as well as studying French at Latin School.  Her recommenders describe Eriko as “unafraid of hard work, wise beyond her years, unflappable, and tough under pressure,” and someone who “steps into new experiences with courage and is open to learning about other people.”

JACL Chicago is pleased to award Eriko the John Iwaoka Memorial Scholarship.

JACL Chicago Scholarship Program

Mitzi Shio Schectman Memorial Scholarship

2020 Awardee Profile  – Elyse Monma

Elyse Monma is this year’s recipient of the Mitzi Shio Schectman Memorial Scholarship. Elyse is a graduating senior at St. Francis High School in Wheaton, Illinois. This fall, she will begin her undergraduate education at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Elyse has contributed to her high school community in many ways. She has been on her school’s varsity lacrosse team for four years, beginning as a goalie and eventually taking on the role of a leader supporting the new girls in their pursuit of sport. She is also a member of the arts and crafts club and performs in musical theatre. 

As a junior, Elyse painted a mural of the school’s patron, St. Francis, in the school’s hallway. One of her teachers said of the artwork, “Her talent has truly been a gift to our high school community.”

During her senior course on “Peace and Social Justice,” Elyse decided to research and develop a voluntary independent project. She had been studying Japanese American history and presented her research on the incarceration camps in a presentation to her peers in conjunction with the conversation on systematic oppression.

Elyse has also demonstrated a strong commitment to community service. She has volunteered with Feed My Starving Children, which provides nutritious meals to children worldwide, and People’s Resource Center, a food pantry and social service agency.

Elyse is also a long-time member of the Girl Scouts, having been involved since childhood. She earned the Girl Scouts Silver Award for her volunteer project helping to construct a garden for Connection for Friends, an organization serving teens and adults with special needs. She is now working towards a Girl Scouts Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout Senior can earn. For her Gold Award project, Elyse is connecting her passion for educating others on Japanese American history and why it remains relevant by creating an educational presentation on the Japanese American incarceration presentation for her school. 

In her personal statement, Elyse stated, “You do not need to be personally connected to the issue… if you have a passion for promoting social reform. We need courageous, brave voices to stand up for what they believe in.” 

JACL Chicago is pleased to award Elyse Monma the Mitzi Shio Schectman Memorial Scholarship.

JACL Chicago Scholarship Program

Miyasaki Family Scholarship (JMAS)

2020 Awardee Profile – Lily Ng

Lily Ng is this year’s recipient of the Miyasaki Family Scholarship from the Japanese Mutual Aid Society of Chicago (JMAS).  Lily is a graduating senior at Evanston Township High School. This fall, she will begin her undergraduate education at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where she plans to major in Neuroscience.

Lily is an excellent student and has maintained nearly a straight “A” average throughout her rigorous academic high school career. She has consistently been on the High Honor Roll and the Asian and Middle Eastern Honor Roll for Academic Excellence throughout high school. She has also received an Outstanding Achievement in Biology and Award for Leadership in Chemistry, and is a member of the National Honors Society.  

Lily’s teachers describe her as a self-motivated, driven, and determined student who is bright, honest, mature, dependable, confident, and respectful. She is a natural leader with a strong work ethic who leads by example. Lily is not afraid to challenge herself, and goes above and beyond what is expected of her. One teacher states that academic success does not seem to be Lily’s primary goal, but rather her success is the result of her inquisitive mind and diligent efforts, making her an outstanding student in the truest sense the word.

In addition to her academic endeavors, Lily has been an active member of her community. She has taught coding to young girls through Kode with Klossy and She is Code in order to promote racial and gender equality in STEM fields.  She has also volunteered at the Evanston School Children’s Clothing Association, which assists low-income families find clothing for their children.

Lily has been involved with the Justin Wynn Leadership Academy since the fourth grade, where she plans community service opportunities, engages in leadership training and team building exercises and learns from community leaders. 

She is a member of the Emerge Leadership Program at her high school, where students are empowered to address an issue they’re passionate about through asset-based community development. As part of her own project, Lily and some of her peers partnered with a community organization to facilitate a Kingian non-violence training at her school to address racial disparities and conflict resolution. Her initial project has became the Kingian Nonviolence Student Club, where she serves as Head Facilitator. 

Lily’s family was incarcerated at Minidoka and Heart Mountain during World War II, and she wrote in her personal statement,  “I work hard to follow in my grandparent’s footsteps and be the ally they needed when they were my age.”

JACL Chicago and JMAS are pleased to award Lily the Miyasaki Family Scholarship.  

JACL Chicago Scholarship Program

Mas Nakagawa Memorial Scholarship 

2020 Awardee Profile – Sam Nishimura

Sam Nishimura is this year’s recipient of the Mas Nakagawa Memorial Scholarship. Sam is a student at DePaul University, where he is working towards a BFA in Animation with a Concentration in Character Design and Storyboarding. He is scheduled to graduate in 2021.

Sam is a talented artist with exceptional drawing skills.  His Beginning Drawing professor noted that “In my 20+ years of teaching, I would rank Sam in the top 1% in terms of his skill level.” Sam has used his art as a way to explore his Japanese American identity and the history of the Japanese American incarceration.  For a self-portrait assignment, he drew himself with a crown of tangled barbed wire in which white cranes were ensnared.  

Sam has a strong commitment to social justice and has explored the intersection of arts, activism, and Asian American identity through DePaul’s Asian Cultural Exchange, an Asian American student organization.  Through his involvement, he has attended and helped to plan and facilitate multiple campus and community events, including those raising awareness of issues in Filipinx, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander and Indigenous communities.  He also served as the organization’s treasurer, where he was responsible for applying for funding through the cultural allocation funding board and student activity fee board.

Sam volunteered as an after-school tutor for elementary school students, and works part-time since 2017 as a Title Clerk and Recorder at Citywide Title Corporation. He also has a green thumb, and has helped to revitalize community gardens and  provides landscaping and maintenance work for the Village Green Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn.  Sam is also a trumpet player, and plays in the Screamin’ Demons DePaul Pep Band for both the men’s and women’s DePaul basketball teams at the Wintrust Arena and McGrath-Phillips Arena.

Sam has recently become active in JACL and the Chicago Nikkei community, attending events such as the Day of Remembrance, Nikkei Nights, and Listen to Your Elders! film screening.  He is a member of the Tsuru for Solidarity Chicago committee, helping to fundraise and organize for the rally in D.C. 

In his scholarship application, Sam reflected, “Through JACL, I’ve learned how expansive the Japanese American identity is in its history, and how that history resonates in the United States today.  I want my legacy as a Japanese American to be an example of how family, community, experience, and action can uplift others, which is exactly what JACL offers to the world.”

JACL Chicago is pleased to award Sam Nishimura the Mas Nakagawa Memorial Scholarship.

JACL Chicago Scholarship Program

Tomiyama Scholarship Fund

2020 Awardee Profile – James Ozaki

James Ozaki is this year’s recipient of the Tomiyama Scholarship. James is a first year graduate student at Cornell University, Class of 2021, where he is pursuing a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations. He received a BA in Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2017.  James is a previous recipient of JACL Chicago’s Chiye Tomihiro Memorial Scholarship in 2016. 

James has been involved in the JACL for many years.  He has participated in Project: Community!, the Kakehashi Project, the Kansha Project, and served on the Kansha Alumni Leadership Board.  He consistently attends community events including the Kansha Project Culmination and Day of Remembrance, even as his education and various opportunities have taken him far from home, and is a frequent contributor to JACL Chicago’s JACLer newsletter.  James won first place in the Go For Broke National Education Center Essay and Poetry Contest for 2016-2017.  In 2018, he was selected by JACL National to be a National Park Service Manzanar Intern. 

As a son of musical artists, James has a passion for singing and music.  In 2016, he was the founder and music director of the group Unseen A Cappella, which is composed of mostly Asian American singers who competed in the 2017 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella.  He has also been a member of various groups, including the Arlington Chorale, Cornell University Glee Club and The Hangovers A Cappella.

After graduating from UIUC, James was a curatorial intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, where he worked on the “Writing a Wrong” exhibit, which contained many Japanese American artifacts from WWII.  In the course of his internship, James came across letters between the War Relocation Authority and California farmers regarding hiring of Japanese American workers who were being released from the incarceration camps. In these letters, James saw firsthand the way racist attitudes and hiring practices impacted Japanese American resettlement patterns and the community’s historical trajectory.  It was this research that inspired James to pursue his Master’s degree.

James’ graduate professors describe him as “a very insightful, creative, and thoughtful scholar with a solid grasp on theories and research” and praise his maturity and resilience”

In his personal statement, James shared, “My involvement with JACL has ultimately been enriching, healing and confidence boosting in terms of discovering my identity and equipping me for that journey… By channeling passion, story, mission, history and resources, JACL surely grounds our community in a shared identity and steps to make change.”

JACL Chicago is pleased to present James Ozaki with the 2020 Tomiyama Scholarship.