JACGP Community Awards

JACGP Community Awards are given to students who have shown exemplary involvement with two or more of the JACGP sponsoring organizations.

A. A minimum of 30 total volunteer hours accumulated in the last four years from at least two sponsoring organizations

(For example: 10 volunteer hours with JAAC, 8 hours with Simpson UMC and 12 hours with JACGP, for a total of 30 volunteer hours)

1. Participating Organizations for this award include the following:
   • Brighton Japanese American Association
   • Denver Nisei Bowling Association
   • Nikkeijin Kai of Colorado
   • Japanese American Community Graduation Program
   • Japanese Business Association of the Rockies
   • Mile High Chapter Japanese American Citizens’ League
   • Nisei Veterans’ Heritage Foundation
   • Sakura Foundation
     • Chibi no Gakko
   • Simpson United Methodist Church
   • Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple
     • Denver Bonsai
   • Contact information of these groups can be found here.
2. Download Letters of Attestation to be filled out with your volunteer organization.
3. Upload the completed form in the Secure Application as a .PDF or .JPG. (Tip: Scan document or take a legible picture on your phone. Download this easy-to-use, free app TinyScanner to turn your photo into a PDF for upload purposes.)

B. Lists of additional curricular and extra-curricular involvement.

• List school activities, awards, honors, etc., and names of clubs or organizations, positions held, conferences, science fairs, etc. Please do not use abbreviations. Use this format: National Honor Society, 9, 10, 11, 12 Vice President, 11
• List non-school activities, hobbies, special skills or other pertinent information: church or temple activities, community organizations, part-time or full-time work, experiences both during school and vacations, etc.
• List activities involving the Japanese American Community.

C. Official High School Transcript

D. Brief Paragraph about Yourself

Tell us something unique about yourself in 150 – 200 words.

E. Complete Essay Questions

Please submit typed answers to two of the following questions with a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 1000 words for both of the essay questions below.

1. What Japanese American values (i.e. shikata ga nai, kodomo tameni, on, gaman, giri, mottainai, enryo suru) are important to you and how do they show up in your daily life?
2. The Japanese American community has had a deep and diverse history in Colorado. Many of our current community leaders have contributed to this history. Please identify an individual and write about how they have impacted the Japanese American community today and how have they influenced you personally?
3. How has awareness around the recent violence against Asian Americans impacted your perspective and own conversations with family and friends? How can we empower and support one another in the Japanese American community here in Colorado?
4. While the Japanese American Community is important to all of us it is just a part of the very diverse community that makes up all of Colorado. Why does diversity and inclusion matter to you? What do we gain as a Japanese American Community by being more diverse and inclusive and what do you do to positively impact diversity and inclusion within the Japanese American Community?

These awards are judged separately by an independent panel of judges.

The final decision of the judges is based upon grade point average, academic courses, school activities, community participation, leadership, personal sacrifice and the oral interview.

All JACGP scholarship applicants will be required to attend an oral interview on Saturday, May 13, 2023, as part of the interview process. The interviews will be held in the Denver metropolitan area.

The JACGP committee acknowledges that under certain circumstances, there may be an occasion in which the interview date and time conflict with a school sponsored activity. Under these circumstances, an alternative method of interview may be accepted. Under the discretion of the JACGP committee, arrangements may be made to interview via video conferencing on the same day as the personal interviews. Requests for interview via video conferencing must be made to the JACGP committee at least 72 hours prior to the interview and accompanied with a dated letter from a school official verifying the date of the event and applicant participation. Upon receipt of the written request and verification, a decision will be made and applicant notified in a timely manner.

All decisions of the JACGP committee are final and not subject to appeal.