May 9, 2000
Educational Opportunity Program banquet May 17
“Celebration 2000,” the 30th Annual Educational Opportunity Program scholarship banquet, will be held Wednesday, May 17 at Ballroom 6-E, Washington State Convention and Trade Center.
The banquet will recognize the extraordinary achievements of UW students in the EOP program, which provides a variety of services to approximately 2,500 students from minority and economically/educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. These services include recruitment, admissions, academic advising, tutoring, personal and career counseling, housing and financial aid advising, and other types of assistance.
The Charles E. Odegaard Award, honoring an individual for commitment and dedication to helping minority and disadvantaged students, also will be presented.
Among those to be honored are:
- Yael Vernando-Rhodes, a senior who has been involved in research since the summer before her senior year in high school, when she was selected to participate in the UW’s Howard Hughes Science for Success research program. In 1998, she was one of 12 students selected nationally for a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Internship. Last year, she was one of 15 national winners of the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative Undergraduate Research Scholarship.
- Somnit Lee, whose parents are Mien hill tribesmen from Laos. Lee was born in a refugee camp in Thailand; his family moved to the U.S. when he was two. Lee is a junior, majoring in biochemistry, with a 3.5 grade point average.
- Samarah Fortson, a senior communications major, who has worked tireless on campus and community issues, particularly Initiative 200.
- Morris Richards, a pre-medical student who began attending Native American events on campus while still in high school. He has had many leadership roles in UW student government and Native American activities on campus.
- Nora Vasquez, a junior majoring in zoology and Spanish, the first in her family to attend college. She has been active in recruiting and mentoring Latino high school students in eastern Washington. She is planning to work for degrees in medicine and public health, with the goal of working as a public health physician, conducting research on health issues affecting underserved populations.
- Devon Johnson, a UW scholarship athlete who played four years of Husky football. He will receive a degree in finance, having earned a 3.1 grade point average, and graduating in four years.
- My Le Shaw, who came to this country at age three from Vietnam with her family of seven. She has distinguished herself in numerous undergraduate research projects and as a teaching assistant in Asian American Studies.
- Jorge Roberts, who grew up in Mexico City but came to the Seattle area to work and live with his father. He has participated in a variety of activities: co-editor of the Economics Undergraduate Newsletter, representative at the Harvard Model United Nations in Brussels, monthly contributor to the Magazine Economia Nacional (Mexico City), and delegate liaison officer at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle.
- Emijan Smith, whose academic career began at Seattle Central Community College seven years ago. She is a single parent who has had to work two jobs much of the time, but has still found time work as a volunteer tutor and mentor of at-risk children. She is planning to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology next year, then go on to graduate school in education.
- Lam Dang, the daughter of Vietnamese immigrant farmers, who was unable to speak English when she entered Nathan Hale High School seven years ago. She is now a junior, majoring in biology with a grade point average of 3.53 and preparing for admission to the School of Pharmacy. Besides being a volunteer in Harborview Medical Center’s Orthopedics Department and a participant in research at the Bloedel Hearing Research Center, she works part-time to help her parents financially.
The event begins with cocktails at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. For information contact the Office of Minority Affairs, 685-3422.
