Celebrating the Future: Honoring the 2024 JSKY Scholars

We are thrilled to congratulate the 2024 recipients of the JSKY Memorial Scholarship! These three outstanding young leaders have excelled academically and dedicated themselves to serving their communities and making a lasting impact.

Whether through mentoring others, advocating for the environment and animal rights, or empowering immigrant entrepreneurs, each of them represents the values of resilience, compassion, and community service that our foundation cherishes.

We are honored to support their journeys and cannot wait to see what they accomplish as they continue to uplift those around them. Congratulations to this year’s scholars—you make us proud!

Sint Paing has overcome so much in the four short years since she and her family emigrated to the United States from Kyaukme, Myanmar.  She was determined to adapt to her new circumstances and made it happen with discipline and dedication.  She created a schedule to learn English and computer skills and spent hours doing extra practice every day.  Rather than resent the extra work, she saw each day as a celebration of study. 

Once she mastered her new skills, she dedicated her high school years to helping others like her learn English.  She became a mentorship manager for STEM.E, a volunteer tutor, and a Discord manager for a tutoring program. She also served as a mentor and homework helper for multiple programs.  Through it all, she maintained an impressive 4.0+ GPA, including consistent As in college courses at East LA College.  Sint plans to study Biological Sciences at UCI to eventually become a dentist.  She is inspired by her hometown’s lack of dental care and hopes to bring care to underserved communities.  We are confident she will achieve everything she dreams.

Su Pyone is passionate about being a voice for society’s voiceless, whether that is the immigrant community, animals, or the environment. Su grew up in Kyaume, Myanmar, where she practiced meditation daily. This faithful practice gave her a deep connection with the environment, inspiring her to take on leadership roles with The Green Cause Initiative and co-found the Society for Nature Protection. 

Su has an impressive record of nearly straight As in her high school career. She also devotes her time to tutoring new immigrants as the National Outreach Coordinator for CommuniTeen Tutors and as a mentor in the English Language Peer Mentoring Program. She plans to study Biological Sciences at UCI as the first step toward her work to help create a more sustainable society, reduce animal suffering, and advance animal rights. We are proud to recognize Su’s achievements and know this is just the beginning.

Ryan Zhu is one of those people who can do it all.  Whether it’s working at his family’s restaurant, juggling multiple AP classes while maintaining a 4.0+ GPA or staying actively involved in over 13 clubs and volunteer projects, Ryan dives deep into everything he does.  He displayed strong leadership skills, taking on the Activities Director role in the United Student Body all four years of high school and also serving in officer roles in the Avid Club, Green Earth Club, Armenian Cultural Club, School Site Council, Journalism, Youth Empowerment Club, Student College Access Team, Key Club International, and American Red Cross. 

Most impressively, he took that strong sense of initiative and created a service helping local small businesses create marketing materials.  Ryan learned graphic and web design skills, got himself certified as an Adobe Professional, and built up a client base one by one.  Ryan helped empower immigrant entrepreneurs by creating ads, business cards, and social media content to drive business to their shops.  Ryan plans to major in graphic design at UCSD and hopes to continue supporting local businesses, giving back to immigrant communities, and telling the stories of families like his.  We are overjoyed to help him achieve his goals and cannot wait to see all he will do to uplift immigrant communities.