2023 Scholarship Award Ceremony
The Franklin Awards assembly is a traditional event honoring graduating seniors. In the past, student participation was voluntary and spotty: for example, in 2022 none of the awardees was present. This year, on June 14 (no doubt initially because attendance was made a requirement of the scholarship), the event was a tremendous success. The auditorium was full of excited students, friends, teachers, and family. A Seahawk-fan-like excitement was evident as cheers, shout-outs, and standing ovations greeted each of the twenty-four graduating awardees.
The Scholarship Committee continues to expand the recognition of a variety of nontraditional “ships”: resiliency-ships, recognize our students who in spite of their many, many challenges are moving forward; thank-god-I-made-it-ships, for those students often overwhelmed by life who exhibit trust that their tomorrow will be better; affirmation-ships, acknowledging students who are doing everything right and who just need a win; and, of course, our legacy scholarships, honoring academic excellence that flourishes at Franklin.
One scholarship award gave affirmation to a student that they do not have to bleach their skin to be successful. Another student, raised under the stigma of poverty, felt elevated and worthy as they accepted their scholarship. Another marched onstage to the pronoun of their choice. One student, heading for MIT, glowed in applause from the audience. We lifted. We celebrated achievement.
Our number of awardees increased as the result of you, our alumni, contributing to the endowment and supporting existing scholarships. The investment from Franklin alums gives credence to the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Our enthusiastic Franklin spirit and pride generated these scholarships.
‘Thank you’ can never be overstated!
Franklin Alumni Association & Foundation Board members Deborah Burton and Tamiko Miyano, along with Scholarship Committee members Herman Houston and Barbara Mahoney, were on hand to provide additional alumni support. The festive evening included founding members of the Coach Moody Vocational Scholarship Loren Hostek, Malcolm Boyles, and Steve Shelton. Matt Wong, the nephew of the late Mayor Edwin Lee, was on stage to present awardees of the Mayor Edwin Lee Scholarship.
Following are the personal statements of the 2023 winners:
Fatimata Goundo Tunkara
“I have overcome trauma by remembering that I have goals to accomplish. I had to stay strong for my parents because they always check up on me and they are the reason why I kept being strong. I made a promise to myself that one day I would do all my best to take care of them.
My greatest achievement is taking pre-college classes while I’m in high school as an English language learner. Another achievement I’m proud of is not letting the past define me. My mindset is that I take things the way they are; I believe that when a particular thing is meant for me then I will have it, if it is not then it doesn’t bother me at all. I take things the way they are. My focus is to accomplish my goals to be successful and to be happy.”
Goal: Medical assistant. Family from Gambia, West Africa
Isamu Masayoshi Sims
“My junior year, Sawhorse Revolution, a nonprofit that builds a better world through guerrilla building projects and student-led design, invited students at my school to apply to build a tiny house. I jumped at the chance to help house a family of three. For nine hours a week over five weeks, I got a crash course in carpentry and community. This year, I worked with a small group of classmates to finish the interior.
“The other day, I saw a poster, ‘Tiny houses save lives.’ It feels good to contribute in this small way as an individual and together in community with my classmates. Yet, I’m left with huge questions—what combination of historic, economic, social, and scientific perspectives might produce solutions to these complex and seemingly intractable crises? Clearly, there is no single solution—all fields of study are needed. To develop my skills in science, but also economics and policy, grounded in equity, to tackle the world’s most pressing social-environmental problems is the role I’m called to play!”
Goal: environmental sciences (including earth and ocean sciences), with a focus on environmental and social justice.
Manh Tri (Michael) Hoang
“I was born and raised in South Vietnam, but my family is from the North Vietnam where their Ideology, culture, and upbringing are extremely strict…My parents put all their faith, hopes, and even their unfulfilled childhood dreams onto me…Fatigue and pressure (led) me (to) not being able to study and get into a top high school. I was quite disappointed in myself and angry…In 2019 I heard that I might live in the US. I inwardly rejoiced, wondering whether this was a second chance for me to pursue my educational path.
“(I learned English during the pandemic, studied hard, and) changed schools from Seattle World School to Franklin High School because I wanted to challenge myself. At Franklin, in my first year, I tried my hand at the subject Pre-Calculus Honors and I joined two clubs—Robotics Club and Vietnamese Club. Right now, I am focusing on my studies, taking two classes, AP Calculus and AP Computer Science. (I want) to one day make my parents proud of me.”
Goal: Information Technology.
Annie Zhou
“Going into high school, I hoped to explore new opportunities to advance my education. However, I felt very limited in opportunities. Coming from an immigrant family, my parents were not able to afford many of the resources a lot of other students had…I researched more opportunities and STEM classes I could enroll in. I learned about a program called UW Math Science Upward Bound (STEMsub). I (took) coding classes and other science classes over the summer. I learned subjects such as machine learning and linear algebra, taught by college professors. I was able to engineer robotic vehicles and build programming games.
“Every time I glanced up from my linear algebra homework, my eyes gravitated toward the Lego structure I built years ago. (A birthday gift from her parents.) My mom displayed it on the shelf like it was an artifact. I felt satisfaction seep through my body. The same satisfaction I felt when I was playing with my Legos. Now instead of Lego pieces, I envision new pathways for my education.”
Bilingual: Mandarin and English.
Findlay Gibbs
“My life has been changed by nature. I have learned to challenge my fear, being mindful and present in the most stressful situations (through backcountry skiing). Foraging and photography have helped me slow down and relax. Cycling and backpacking have helped me find new limits for my physical and mental endurance…I recognize in these activities their exclusivity.
“At my work at REI I see a lot of people looking for a backpacking bag and say things like ‘I know I don’t look like the type to backpack,’ or ‘This sounds like a lot of fun, but I’m worried I won’t fit in with most hikers.’ I respond by saying that the outdoors is for everyone. However, comforting a few people can only do so much…the next step is going past the surface-level inclusive marketing language, and I want to be a part of the structural change that comes next. I have a drive for practical social change that uplifts people that (guides) my life.”
Goal: Reed College to study sociology or political science
Kassidy Foster
Reference for Kassidy said: “Kassidy entered her junior year at Franklin credit deficient due to stressors that were directly related to covid-19 and quarantine. She credits that period of her life as a teachable moment where she learned the importance of being resilient…Kassidy uses her previous experiences to help her take on new risks, such as enrolling in college level courses at FHS. She has demonstrated success throughout her entire senior year, and regularly discusses her previous struggles as a means to help mentor her younger classmates…
“I’ve always admired Kassidy’s passion to support her community. Kassidy identifies as a young Black woman, and her personal and academic goals are consistently rooted in giving back to her community. (She) embodies what it means to be a resilient human and lifelong learner. She leads with an empathic viewpoint.”
Goal: Seattle University, orthodontics
Ngoc Bao Hong
“Starting a new life in a country where people don’t speak my first language is extremely difficult. As the oldest child in the family, I am responsible for replacing my parents as the person in charge of housework and taking care of my younger brother. (After school) I do all the housework and cook dinner so that after my parents get off work, they can rest and go to bed.
“The first month of school was horrible; I felt lost in class. After the first quarter I felt I couldn’t go through high school like that and decided to change. I spent every day and night reading books imitating the pronunciation of the characters in the movie, and could converse with my classmates and teachers.
“In 11th grade my counselor would not allow me to take double math because he thought I could not do it. I decided that I would study pre-calculus on my own so I asked Mr. Mathly, Franklin’s pre-calculus teacher, to teach me. Since then, I have always gone to his class after school to do my daily lessons. I passed Algebra 2 and passed the pre-calculus final. At that moment I realized that it doesn’t matter if I go fast or slow as long as I never stop.
“To pay back all the help from teachers, parents, and this country, I would like to work in computer science.”
Goal: computer science. Helping autistic children. Bilingual: English and Vietnamese.
Rian Bendtsen
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to attend university straight out of high school. Many people didn’t have this, including my mother and father. Despite this, my mother eventually went on to earn multiple degrees when I was older. She sacrificed to give me a stable environment, and now, I am able to do what she couldn’t at the time, go to college.
“I am unable to pay for (college) so I am working to find as much aid as I can.”
Goal: college (accepted at UW, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz); interests: environmental sciences, psychology, social work.
Scarlett Woodward
“For as long as I can remember, I have always been labeled as the ‘soccer girl’—I loved that label. Playing soccer took me to eleven different states, multiple university campuses, and Portugal. Soccer was my whole identity. Back in May I was not selected for the first team for the first time. This was the most heart-wrenching experience of my life.
“For the first time, I was now free to attend high school sports events, go out on weekends, and have the flexibility to go camping with friends. I also decided to run for senior class president because my friends thought I would be the most capable candidate to make senior year fund…it started as a dare, but once the reality of being elected president sunk in, I was excited to take on the new challenge and hone my leadership skills.
“This past summer I attended the Tactile Design in Architecture pre-college program at Tulane. The two-week residential program was a pivotal experience for me in terms of post-high school collegiate direction and aspirations.”
Goals: attend Tulane, BA in architecture, graduate school in NYC
Stephen Soronio
“Growing up, my initial reason for going to college was to do what my parents were not allowed to do. Being immigrants from the Philippines, they were forced to abandon their chance for higher education. Looking at how much they had sacrificed empowered me for a long time. I’ve found that mindset to have expanded. The organizations that I’m part of and my Franklin class and clubs have been an essential part of that journey. I’ve realized that I want to go to college to use what I learn there to give back—not just to my family, but to the community that raised me as well.
“The major I am pursuing—microbiology—initially was a passing interest for me. Why not be a nurse like everyone is saying—which would genuinely help people and be worthy of my parents’ sacrifice? Thanks to the opportunities from my organizations, I’ve learned how incredibly essential my major is to the medical world (allowing) me to be confident in pursuing it in college.
“Those same organizations also helped me in my self-identity journey when I was rejected when I came out as queer and trans to my family. I learned the power of my voice. Just like how I don’t have to be a nurse because that’s what everyone told me to do, I realized I don’t have to fit the binary that many wanted me to be. I could just be me.”
Goal: Microbiology or cell biology at UW or Seattle U
Jenna Yuan
“We come from the Yuan village in rural Taishan, China, where my parents were both farmers who were forced to drop out of middle school to work full-time on their farm. My dad left for America when I was one. It wouldn’t be until five years later that my mom and I reunited with him. I would soon learn that life in America is nowhere near as glamorous as people made it seem—the American nightmare is more accurate.
Jenna Yuan
“Working two full-time jobs as a dim sum chef, my dad always slept during the few hours he was home. Working as a housekeeper, my mom would pass out from fatigue the moment she entered the house. From preparing dinner to paying utility bills online, I bore most of the household responsibilities at just eleven years old to lessen the burden on my parents.
“For eighteen years, my parents have worked tirelessly so I could have a brighter future. My dreams have been shaped by the labor of their love, and I aspire to repay their hard work.”
(Jenna served as a student liaison on the Seattle Public Schools Board from August 2022 through the academic year ending in 2023—see Quaker Times Vol 27, Fall 2022)
Goal: computer science, attending MIT
Jocelyn Jimenez Romero
“The first time I got my menstrual cycle, I bled every single day for an entire year. Being a 13-year-old girl with no knowledge of what was happening to me was terrifying. Experiencing this sparked my interest in women’s reproductive health. I would spend hours online learning everything about women’s menstrual cycles, breast cancer, hormone imbalances, PCOS, and infertility. This research helped me navigate my mom’s Stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis because I had already done research on this topic. After conversations with my reproductive health doctors, I knew gynecology was what I wanted to do. They saw my passion for the field and pushed me to pursue it as a career.
“I want to ensure every woman has a positive experience when going to the doctor about their reproductive health by making them feel heard and cared for. Additionally, I hope to represent my community in the medical field by breaking down the stigmas around reproductive care in communities of color, removing barriers that prevent women of color from accessing care, and providing women of color with a sense of security, understanding, and empathy.”
Goal: gynecology
Joshua De Los Santos:
“In 5th grade my teacher recommended me to a program called Rainier Scholars, a rigorous college prep program. I witnessed my brother go through the same program, and saw how hard it could be, so I wasn’t sure I would be able to complete the program…I overcame the time-consuming challenge homework by contacting my teachers and friends I made in the program…Another technique I was able to pick up was time management and prioritizing subjects. The skills I learned came into use later. My dad accepted a job because it paid well, but he needed an assistant to help him (me). I was able to follow and memorize instructions to finish my part of the job and get home in time to get ready for school. It was difficult but it was nice knowing I was helping my dad.
“I hope (I can help) to make people’s lives easier. (Whatever) career path that I may become interested in, the experiences I have will help me help others.”
Goal: Attending UW in the fall. Bilingual in English and Spanish.