Graduation Day at Wesley
This past Sunday, Wesley UMC had the honor of formally congratulating our High School seniors and College graduates. We are proud and pleased at how our young people have grown and developed into such responsible, thoughtful, and caring individuals. Each are beautiful gifts from God and their presence in our church has enhanced and highlighted the best in our church.
Accolades to our college graduates. Can you believe it’s already been four years since these teenagers went off to colleges and universities and are now going out into the world to spread their wings. Put your hands together for: Ashley Cook, graduating from Santa Clara University in Communication and Dance; Alan Ngai, San Jose State University in International and Global Studies; Jasmine Noda, University of Santa Barbara in Sociology; Dayna Shimada, California State University, Fullerton in Kinesiology and General Studies; Lance Sunzeri, San Francisco University in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; and Oliver To, Occidental College in Philosophy and East Asian Studies.
High-Fives to our High School Graduates. Noted is that 8 of the 12 graduating seniors are also Sanematsu Scholarship Winners. Gene Kinoshita, the Endowment Chair, presented the Sanematsu Scholarship to the following with intentional pride placed particulaly on his two grandchildren, and also recipients, Aiden and Kailyn Beaver, the son and daughter of Laurie and Dean Beaver. Both graduated from University Preparatory Academy. Aiden will be attending UC San Diego and Kailyn will go to Santa Clara University. Emily Burich, the daughter of Kelly and Chris Burich, will be attending UC Santa Cruz; Madison Ng, the daughter of Christine and John Ng, graduated from Leland High and will be attending West Valley College; Hailey Oshita, the daughter of Lynn Tabuchi, graduated from Palo Alto High and will be attending the University of Oregon; Kayla Shimada, the daughter of Michelle and Todd Shimada, graduated from Leland High and will be attending DeAnza College; Evan Williams, the son of Mitchell and Jayne Willliams, graduated from Branham High and Brennan Wong, the son of Jennifer and Keith Wong, graduated from Branham High and will attend California State-Fullerton. Kinoshita thanked all who continue to contribute to the Endowment Fund from which all these scholarships are made possible. Also recognized were graduating seniors Grace Boles, Bailey Katayama, Tennessee Tang, and Devin Yee. Gene congratulated all of them and left them with this parting shot:” Within each of you is the ability to do great things”
Well, as you can see…our church had 12 graduating high school seniors going off to college. Our house is going to feel mighty empty. But, we are so proud of their achievement and we look forward to hearing about the next chapter in their lives as they continue to evolve and blossom into young adults full of vision, spirit, enlightenment and empowering themselves to change this world God created. Hear! Hear!
Finally, it is the teachers who are recognized as well they should be. They have been in the trenches with our youth every Sunday during the school year and we applaud them. They’ve helped our children grow in Christ and lead a life with God as their guide. We thank them for their sacrifice every Sunday. Hatty Lin, Children’s Ministry Director, praised all the God’s Garden Teachers this past year: Sarah Holt, Christine Ozawa-Ng, Kellie Nunokawa, Mary Asano, Lisa Bantilan, Karen Chou, Leighton Horio, Jayne Williams, Kiyomi Yanai, Clarissa Johnston-Abril, Rob Hikido, and Jim Mar. We’ve been blessed with their gift for teaching and say THANK YOU.
Accolades to our college graduates. Can you believe it’s already been four years since these teenagers went off to colleges and universities and are now going out into the world to spread their wings. Put your hands together for: Ashley Cook, graduating from Santa Clara University in Communication and Dance; Alan Ngai, San Jose State University in International and Global Studies; Jasmine Noda, University of Santa Barbara in Sociology; Dayna Shimada, California State University, Fullerton in Kinesiology and General Studies; Lance Sunzeri, San Francisco University in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; and Oliver To, Occidental College in Philosophy and East Asian Studies.
High-Fives to our High School Graduates. Noted is that 8 of the 12 graduating seniors are also Sanematsu Scholarship Winners. Gene Kinoshita, the Endowment Chair, presented the Sanematsu Scholarship to the following with intentional pride placed particulaly on his two grandchildren, and also recipients, Aiden and Kailyn Beaver, the son and daughter of Laurie and Dean Beaver. Both graduated from University Preparatory Academy. Aiden will be attending UC San Diego and Kailyn will go to Santa Clara University. Emily Burich, the daughter of Kelly and Chris Burich, will be attending UC Santa Cruz; Madison Ng, the daughter of Christine and John Ng, graduated from Leland High and will be attending West Valley College; Hailey Oshita, the daughter of Lynn Tabuchi, graduated from Palo Alto High and will be attending the University of Oregon; Kayla Shimada, the daughter of Michelle and Todd Shimada, graduated from Leland High and will be attending DeAnza College; Evan Williams, the son of Mitchell and Jayne Willliams, graduated from Branham High and Brennan Wong, the son of Jennifer and Keith Wong, graduated from Branham High and will attend California State-Fullerton. Kinoshita thanked all who continue to contribute to the Endowment Fund from which all these scholarships are made possible. Also recognized were graduating seniors Grace Boles, Bailey Katayama, Tennessee Tang, and Devin Yee. Gene congratulated all of them and left them with this parting shot:” Within each of you is the ability to do great things”
Well, as you can see…our church had 12 graduating high school seniors going off to college. Our house is going to feel mighty empty. But, we are so proud of their achievement and we look forward to hearing about the next chapter in their lives as they continue to evolve and blossom into young adults full of vision, spirit, enlightenment and empowering themselves to change this world God created. Hear! Hear!
Finally, it is the teachers who are recognized as well they should be. They have been in the trenches with our youth every Sunday during the school year and we applaud them. They’ve helped our children grow in Christ and lead a life with God as their guide. We thank them for their sacrifice every Sunday. Hatty Lin, Children’s Ministry Director, praised all the God’s Garden Teachers this past year: Sarah Holt, Christine Ozawa-Ng, Kellie Nunokawa, Mary Asano, Lisa Bantilan, Karen Chou, Leighton Horio, Jayne Williams, Kiyomi Yanai, Clarissa Johnston-Abril, Rob Hikido, and Jim Mar. We’ve been blessed with their gift for teaching and say THANK YOU.
Posted in Newsletter 2023-06-15