CLICK HERE FOR THE 2024 STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST

AAPI Student Scholarship Contest and Exhibition

in partnership with MemorialCare, Dear Asian Americans, and Intertrend

The Exhibition

Winning and select student submissions will be showcased as part of an in-person Bring the Noise student exhibition. Hosted by the Billie Jean King Main Library in Long Beach, CA, this exhibition will kick-off Asian American Pacific Heritage Month on May 4, 2023. For those who are unable to see the exhibition live, it can be viewed here.

Bring the Noise Exhibit - Launch Event

Thursday, May 4th, 5-7PM
Billie Jean King Main Library
200 W. Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90802

There is much to learn from today’s Gen Z youth, who are empowered to take charge of their lives. In many ways, this generation recognizes that mental wellness is critical to one’s health and fulfillment, propensity for success, and a cornerstone of society’s ability to thrive. The lackluster stats of Asian Americans addressing mental health are well known, but it is time to help shift our cultural norms, perceptions and inhibitions to open real conversations about the importance of mental wellness.

Cultural nuances and background play a vital role in our mental health. Our goal for this panel is to help Asian American youth navigate this time of their life which can be exciting and challenging at the same time. In this panel, we are bringing together various stakeholders and voices of those who are going through it and also those who can help.

Our Panelists

Millie Liao

YOUTH ACTIVIST
Founder, Youth Against Hate

Millie Liao is a senior at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. She is the founder of the Youth Against Hate Coalition, a group of hundreds of organizations that work together to uplift the stories of local LA youth calling for change. With the coalition, Millie works to give youth platforms within traditionally "adults-only" spaces, because she believes that youth deserve a say in their future. By working with organizations such as Make Noise Today, the ACLU of Southern California, and more, she has led national campaigns featuring student activists and their unique stories. In total, Millie has worked with more than 700 students to launch campaigns through organizations within the Youth Against Hate coalition. Over 10,000 youth organizers from across the nation have joined the campaigns she has led. She is a strong believer in the inherent power of stories, and therefore works to nurture the storytelling skills of other teens so they can harness their experiences and use them to start campaigns that create change and empower others.

Yi-Ann Li

YOUTH ACTIVIST
Founder of Dear Asian Youth USC Chapter

Yi-Ann Li is a third year studying Psychology and English Literature at USC Dornsife College. She interested in the ways human behavior shape our experiences, and is passionate about storytelling, reading, and writing. Currently she is Co-President of the USC chapter of Dear Asian Youth, a space for APIDA individuals on USC’s campus to share their stories and uplift marginalized communities through creative expression focusing on education and activism. Yi-Ann is also a research and lab assistant in the USC Race, Disparities, & Intervention Lab; and an independent writer and poet.

Serena Minikes

Founding Board Member
TeachAAPI

Serena grew up in San Francisco, attended UC Berkeley and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and spent 20 years imagining, creating and growing consumer products and brands. By far, becoming a parent has been her most significant life experience, deeping her sense of responsibility for future generations. Serena is a Founding Board Member of TeachAAPI, sits on the Board of Trustees of the Willows Community School in Culver City, CA and is mommy to James (10), Jacqueline (7) and Maximus (4).

Dr. Ioana Pal

MEDICAL EXPERT
Child Psychologist, MemorialCare

Ioana Pal, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist at Stramski Children’s Development Center at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital (MCWH) in Long Beach, CA who specializes in psychological, developmental and neuropsychological assessments. Her clinical interests include dual diagnosis, forensic psychology, personality disorders, mind-body connection, motivational interviewing, mindfulness and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) with children, adolescents, and adolescent young adults (AYA). In addition to her clinical work she serves as a board member of the Stramski Advisory Board, Fragile X Association of Southern California (FRAXSOCAL), Learning Disabilities Association of America - CA Chapter (LDA of California), California Psychological Association (CPA) and Orange County Psychological Association (OCPA).

Winners and Prizes

MemorialCare Platinum Prize ($5,000): Grace P.

Dear Asian Americans Gold Prize ($1,000 each): Hyunyoung M. and Taylor N.

TeachAAPI Silver Prize ($500 each): Jupiter Z., Reihinna H., and Rui X.

Honorable Mention ($375 each): Lila M., Michelle W., Lauryn K., and Julia H.

Make Noise Today is awarding contest money to the winners as scholarship funds. The prize is intended to help fund tuition, housing, or school supplies.

Our Judges

Our Make Noise Today team sorted through all 300+ essays, and our judging panel scored the finalists and winners.
Thank you to our judges for their time and consideration!

Dr. Tommy Chang, EdD

CEO, New Teacher Center

Tommy brings over 25 years of education experience and leadership to this role, including significant positions in schools, districts, and nonprofit organizations. His journey began with and continues to return to the life-changing moment he answered the call to become a teacher. Before his most recent position as acting CEO and President of Families In Schools, Tommy spent three years as a consultant and coach to school system leaders and advised organizations such as Great Public Schools Now LA, FourPoint Education Partners, and Whiteboard Advisors. He has served on several nonprofit boards such as Leading Educators and Silicon Schools Fund as well as Education Leaders of Color, an organization dedicated to elevating the leadership, voices, and influence of people of color in education to lead more inclusive efforts to improve education. From 2015-2018, he served as superintendent for Boston Public Schools during which time the district saw increases in student graduation rates and decreases in school dropout rates. He also supported the development and implementation of The Essentials for Instructional Equity, an innovative framework for teaching and learning aimed at closing opportunity and achievement gaps. A native of Taiwan who immigrated with his family to the U.S. at age six, Dr. Chang grew up in Los Angeles and holds an Ed.D. from Loyola Marymount University, M.Ed.’s from the Principals Leadership Institute and the Teachers Education Program at the University of California Los Angeles, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Anthony Christian Ocampo, Ph.D

PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Anthony is the author of Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons and The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race, which has been featured on NPR, NBC News, Literary Hub, and in the Los Angeles Times. He is an Academic Director of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity and the co-host of the podcast Professor-ing. His writing has appeared in GQ, Catapult, BuzzFeed, Los Angeles Review of Books, Colorlines, Gravy, Life & Thyme, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. He has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, Jack Jones Literary Arts, Tin House, and the VONA/Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation. He was recently featured in the Netflix documentary “White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch,” as he was one of the employees involved in suing the company for racial discriminatory hiring practices. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles, he earned his BA in comparative studies in race and ethnicity and MA in modern thought and literature from Stanford University and his MA and PhD in sociology from UCLA.

Jocelyn Tsaih

ARTIST

Jocelyn is a Taiwan-born, Shanghai-raised artist. She received her BFA in Graphic Design at the School of Visual Arts. She is a painter, illustrator, and muralist. Though she works in various mediums, the connecting thread throughout her work is her depiction of amorphous figures. Often portrayed in abstracted, liminal spaces, she aims to touch on the emotions as well as the otherworldliness of our human experience. The figures in Tsaih's work act as extensions of herself. As someone who grew up between multiple cultures and worlds, she's created her own version of the "in-between". This is where the figures, and herself, are free to just be. She utilizes color, form, and composition to create images that convey strong moods, possibility for curiosity, and space for introspection.