Vietnamese Youth Organization Offering its First Scholarship

After more than a decade working with high school and college students in San Diego, the Vietnamese-American Youth Alliance will be offering its first scholarship for community and civic engagement. One of VAYA’s missions is to promote youth leadership through community development and the scholarship reflects that.

“During the past 12 years, we have developed leaders in the community and those leaders have gone on to become leaders in their industries and we feel this is a great way for them to give back to their community,” VAYA president Andy Nguyen said.

The scholarship is funded by donations from former VAYA members.

“We want today’s Vietnamese youth to be proud of not just their heritage but also their community,” Nguyen said. “We want them to be actively involved in their community and affect positive change.”

This scholarship is open to graduating high schoolers living in San Diego who are at least an eighth part Vietnamese. There is an essay question that asks about applicants’ community and civic engagements and their impacts on the community.

Deadline to apply for the scholarship is Feb. 1.

The winner of the $300 scholarship will be announced at VAYA’s annual San Diego Tet Festival in Mira Mesa during the opening ceremony February 13.

For more information about the scholarship, visit VAYA’s website at www.vayasd.org