For Immediate Release
June 3, 2003

OAKLAND, Calif, (June 3, 2003) - Today, the Asian Employees Association at the Port of Oakland generously awarded scholarships totaling $20,000 to students entering college or vocational schools this fall. The scholarship awards were presented at a ceremony during the Port of Oakland Board of Port Commissioners' meeting. Port Board President Frank Kiang and Port of Oakland Executive Director, Tay Yoshitani officiated the awards ceremony.

Port Board President Frank Kiang said, "These students are part of our future. They will contribute to society tomorrow as they learn today." Kiang added," They are to be congratulated for their success and setting a fine example for other young people."

The Asian Employees Association (AEA) was established in 1991 as a non-profit. AEA started offering scholarships in 1993. This year, they awarded $3,000 scholarships to two students - Quyen Vo of Head Royce School and Christina Kwan attending Oakland Technical High School. The $2,000 scholarships went to Chandan Misra - Head Royce School, Matthew Lee - Alameda High School, Linh Dao - Life Academy, Anjali Shastri - College Preparatory School, Brian Brocious - Monte Vista High School, and Anders Chan - Skyline High School - six in all.

In addition, four $500 book reimbursement recipients were given to Vicki Chan of Skyline High School, Sergio Martinez from Arthur Anderson, Robert Middleton at Head Royce School and Wei Bang Mei of Oakland High School. All of the scholarships are awarded to deserving Oakland high school students and children of current Port employees.

Port of Oakland Executive Director Tay Yoshitani said, "I am pleased that we have so many Port employees who generously volunteer to organize this scholarship program and raise much needed funds to help finance the continuing education of these motivated students."

As of today, the AEA will have awarded some $65,000 since 1993. "It was challenging to select the candidates to be honored as so many of the applicants were good students," said Port assistant engineer Pey-Jin Lin, chair of this year's scholarship committee.

Port Senior Financial Analyst Sandra Yee with AEA commented, “We have an extremely rigorous selection process; the scholarship recipients are truly deserving."

Photos available upon request.

Contact:
Syrell Sapoznick
Field Representative
Media and Public Relations
(510) 627-1377
ssapozni@portoakland.com