The second annual Pan-Asian Student Awards Ceremony, held last night in Collis Commonground, recognized outstanding students who have contributed to the Pan-Asian community at Dartmouth over the past year.
Professor Vernon Takeshita, Professor Josna Rege and Pan-Asian Council Adviser Nora Yasamura presented the awards for the evening.
Director of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity Ozzie Harris '81 gave the opening remarks for the evening. He shared his own personal experience of growing up with the consciousness of his own racial identity but never truly recognizing the racial identity of his high school friend, Mark Fuji.
"It was difficult for me to recognize him as Japanese-American," Harris said, and also noted that he had interacted with Fuji as if he were white.
Harris shared his vision of expanding consciousness towards the identities of groups such as the deaf, the financially disadvantaged, and various faith communities, and closed with the remark that sometimes a certain type of identity "is apparent and sometimes Mark Fuji remains unknown to us."
The Leadership Award, the first of nine student awards, was presented to Charlie Chen '04. Chen is currently the President of the Dartmouth Asian Organization, and has been noted for inspiring the younger executives of the organization.
Two awards for scholarship were presented to students who have utilized their academic experiences to contribute to the understanding of Asian or Asian American studies.
Darlene Hilburn '03 received the award for her Geography Honors Thesis entitled "Immigrants and their institutions: Co-assimilation and identity formation in the Korean-American church."
Jonathan Schroeder '03, who wrote an English Senior thesis entitled "A History of Amnesia: Singaporean Writing in English since Independence," received the second Scholarship award.
Three Creativity Awards were given to outstanding individuals and organizations, which through creative and innovative ideas had the greatest impact on the Pan-Asian Community at Dartmouth.
The student group Milan received one of the awards for their outstanding Spring Show "RANGEELA: Colors of South Asia", which had promoted an understanding of South Asian culture.
The Dartmouth Vietnamese Students Association also received a Creativity Award for "Exploring Vietnam," a small but powerful event that included a slide presentation and the personal sharing of experiences relating to the Vietnamese identity.
Stu Leung '05 received the third award for his active involvement in putting together the Asian American Student Poetry Slam.
Ian Davall '06 and Marie Choi '06 received the Outstanding First Years awards. Duvall was recognized for his leadership in the Dartmouth Japan Society and for his involvement in building coalitions to bring cultures together.
Choi was noted for her involvement with the Asian-American identities retreat, her assistance in organizing the Asian-American and Asian-Pacific American discussion, and her leadership with the "Closer to Home" program.
Two students groups were recognized for the Community Service Award. Club Singapura received the award for raising money to help support SARS victims in Singapore.
The Dartmouth Asian Organization received the award for "DAO pals", a mentoring program that pairs Upper Valley children with student volunteers in organized weekly activities. Wendy Wong '03 was recognized for her leadership of the program.
The Coalition Building Award, which is given to a student who has helped build coalitions that bring together the Pan-Asian community with other sub-communities on campus, was awarded to Nancy Lai '03, the co-chair of the Women of Color Collective.
The Institutional Diversity and Equity Award is given to an individual student of Asian descent who has had the greatest impact in promoting diversity and equity at Dartmouth this academic year.
James Joun '03 received the award for his work over the past year as chair of the Diversity Affairs committee for the Student Assembly.
The most prestigious award given out at the awards ceremony, the Outstanding Senior Award, was awarded to Alan Cheng '03 for having the strongest impact on the Asian-American community of any senior. Cheng has been an intern for the Pan-Asian Council, and became a trained Sexual Abuse Peer Advisor.
Among his many other achievements, Cheng has also been actively involved in the Diversity Peer Program and the Dartmouth Outing Club.
