Remembrance and Healing

Remembrance and healing.

These are at the heart of six scholarships that pay continued tribute to the UC Santa Barbara students who were killed during the tragic May 2014 events in Isla Vista. Created to memorialize the students and their lasting contribution to the UC Santa Barbara community, each fund is as unique as the student whose name it bears.

“The purpose of the memorial scholarships is to remember the lives lost in the Isla Vista tragedy in 2014,” said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Margaret Klawunn. “We honor Veronika, David, Christopher, George, Katie and James by selecting current students who exemplify some of the unique characteristics and interests of these six individuals. Our scholarship recipients are contributing to the campus community in many ways and we are grateful for the privilege of recognizing their contributions.”

The six awardees for 2019 are:

• Victoria Bonato, recipient of the Katherine Breann Cooper Memorial Scholarship, who is majoring in classics and in the history of art and architecture. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in art history, and spent the past academic term at the University of Bologna in Italy as part of UC’s Education Abroad Program.

• Chun Chen, recipient of the James Hong Memorial Scholarship, a doctoral student in counseling, clinical and school psychology. She has cultivated a strong research foundation in understanding the pervasive influence of culture on shaping the development of youth and their resilience to school violence and other global risk factors. Her most recent study examined how school climate can alleviate the negative impact of bullying on students’ engagement using multilevel approaches.

• Katherin Jordan, recipient of the Veronika Weiss Memorial Scholarship, a psychology student who hopes to begin a Ph.D. program in social psychology next year. As the A.S. Student Initiated Recruitment and Retention Committee’s book bank director, Katherin maintained and expanded the collection of free textbooks for students to rent. She also is involved with the Student Committee on Racial Equality, and is a co-coordinator of the Women’s Commission Board.

• Lois B. Kim, recipient of the David Wang Memorial Scholarship, who was instrumental in bringing to campus the Global Medical Missions Alliance (GMMA). Last year, under her leadership, GMMA traveled with physicians to Mexico to provide health screening and basic medical services to an underserved community outside Tijuana. The group also has provided food, blankets and hygiene packages to members of Isla Vista’s homeless community.

• Jaela Peay, recipient of the Christopher Michaels-Martinez Memorial Scholarship, who was selected for her strong academic record and active engagement in promoting social justice through language and written expression. An English major, Jaela plans to attend law school and become an environmental attorney.

• Sierra Schwellenbach, recipient of the George Chen Memorial Scholarship, a computer science major with a passion for helping her classmates succeed. A member of the Computer Science Undergraduate Affairs Committee and vice president of the campus’s Robotics club, Sierra also is a mentor to first-year female computer science students through WiSH. She has been working closely with professors on a computer science education research project and is one of the main authors on a paper to be submitted to SIGCSE ’19, analyzing the current state of undergraduate teaching assistants in computer science.