>> George Choy photo

 

 

Scholarship application & goals

The purpose of the George Choy Memorial / Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) Scholarship is to provide financial assistance to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (l/g/b/t) Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) who are in the process of applying to, or are currently attending, a post-secondary institution. The maximum grant award is currently $1000.

Who was George Choy?

George Choy was an ardent activist who spoke out for queer APIs, driven by the belief that we are all "part of the family too." He was especially vocal in support of queer youth in our community, successfully representing GAPA to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to pass Project 10, the counseling program for lesbian and gay teenagers in public high schools. In keeping with the vision of George Choy, this scholarship embraces lesbians, transgenders and other sexual minorities.

Who can apply?

You can apply for this scholarship if you:

  • are self-identified as an Asian/Pacific Islander; (at least 25% API ancestry); priority will be given to those self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, or involved in the l/g/b/t community;

  • are in the process of applying to, or are currently attending school in one of the nine-Bay Area counties; (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Napa, Sonoma, and Solano)

  • have a grade point average (GPA) of 2.75 or better

Application deadline: July 31, 2008

Please click one of the links below to download a file containing the guidelines and application form for the George Choy Memorial / GAPA Scholarship Fund. For additional information, please visit the Horizons Foundation website.

For DETAILED GUIDELINES, please read the application form. For more information contact our gapa scholarship coordinator, Hao Thai at .

2008 Application Form PDF (272k download)

2008 Application Form MS-WORD (218k download)
(right-click --> Save-As, locally to your computer)

2007 scholarship recipient:
Ricky Aquino

With the GAPA George Choy Scholarship in its 10th year, and after several hours of deliberation, I'm proud to announce the GAPA George Choy Scholarship Committee has chosen Ricky Aquino as this year's recipient. Ricky continues the tradition of community activism, academic excellence, and bright spirit that characterizes all the Scholarship recipients. Ricky is currently attending Contra Costa College in San Pablo. However, this ambitious young man has an eye towards helping people in a greater capacity and has a goal of graduating from CSU East Bay with a Master in Sociology. Ricky was born to teenage parents and had few economic advantages. Despite these challenges that would have sidelined most people, he has continued to excel in academics and is part of the Honor Society. Everyone who was fortunate enough to meet Ricky at the GAPA Banquet found his personality to be very friendly, charismatic, and joyous. One of the great moments of the Banquet was when our keynote speaker, Betty Yee, also a sociology major, was able to talk shop with Ricky. I won't be surprised if Betty passes the torch onto Ricky and he goes up on stage as a Banquet keynote speaker in the near future.