37TH FOUNDER’S CELEBRATION SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

The Long Beach Branch NAACP is in its 16th year of awarding scholarships to college and vocational school

bound students. The Branch also provides continued support for past recipients. Recipients were selected

based on a comprehensive application and judged using criteria that included essays, community service, finan-

cial need, a minimum GPA of 2.5 and letters of recommendation. The scholarships listed below are funded by

donations to the Long Beach Branch NAACP Scholarship Fund, and memorial and private donor’s scholarships.

2 0 1 6 L O N G B E A C H B R A N C H N A A C P

TAT IA NA TAT E - E R N E ST M C B R I DE , SR . M E M OR IA L S C HOL A R SH I P

Tatiana Marie Tate has played the trumpet since the age seven and also plays drums, trombone and is learning bass guitar. She is a 12th grader at Long Beach Polytechnic High School and is a part of their Grammy Signature Music Program. She is the 2016/2017 “Drum Major” of the Poly High School Marching Unit, plays trumpet in their prestigious Jazz “A” Jazzband, and is a soloist in the “Poly Jazz Combo III”, “Symphonic Winds Orchestra”. She has been recognized as an outstanding soloist in several festivals and com-petitions including the Reno Jazz Festival, Irvine Jazz Festival, and The Next Generation Jazz Festival. She was awarded the “Best Performer Award” at the Western States Jazz Festival. She has been a part of the Grammy Muse-um Summer Session Band. She has performed at the First Annual Grammy Gala, featuring Boys 2 Men, Kelly Rowland, Michael Bolton, and Smokey

Robinson. She also performed at the Ray Charles Stamp Dedication Ceremony. She is a member of the Colburn School Conservatory “Jazz Big Band”, the Mike Curb Music Production Mentoring program at the Grammy Museum and the Arturo Sandoval Institute All Star Youth Jazz Band. She also serves as Praise and Worship Leader at The World Christian Fellowship of Long Beach. Tatiana has a 4.2 GPA and has been recognized by the LBUSD both for her academic talent and music ability. Tatiana is also study-ing Japanese and was selected as one of a small group of students to represent her School District as a Cultural Ambassador traveling to Japan in July of 2016. Her plans are to attend UCLA fall 2017 to study Music Composition. She strongly believes music can unite people and change the world.

D OM I N IQU E L A BAT - E V E LY N K N IG H T B O OK S C HOL A R SH I P

Dominique Labat is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art at California State University, Long Beach. Prior to attending CSULB, Domi-nique was a student at Golden West College studying American Sign Lan-guage. She is currently an intern for the Arts Council of Long Beach at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Her artwork has been shown in multiple Los Angeles-based exhibits, including the “With These Hands Exhibit” “The Event”, and “ART8”.

Dominique earned three gold medals in the Drawing & Painting catego-ry of the Long Beach Branch NAACP ACT-SO Competition, in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. Ms. Labat is a long-time supporter of the NAACP, and has volunteered at the annual NAACP Awards Gala Celebration .

She is also a mentor for the Branch’s ACTSO, Discovery of the Arts, Talent Search & Development Program , and the Stay in School Program.

J E N N I F E R DI XON - R A I N E Y- P I E R S ON M E M OR IA L S C HOL A R SH I P Jennifer Dixon currently serves as Webmaster of the Long Beach Branch NAACP. In addition to providing regular site maintenance, she works to orga-nize and redesign the webpage. She also assists the Long Beach Branch with marketing, graphics, grants, administrative tasks and day-to-day operations. A fourth-year student at California State University, Long Beach, Jennifer is majoring in Studio Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design and minoring in Web Technologies and Applications. Jennifer has earned a spot on the Presi-dent’s Honor List five times, maintaining a 3.9 GPA. She is also an active mem-ber of the University Honors Program. Her honors thesis focuses on making healthcare institution’s online patient portals more accessible to older adults.

Jennifer has been involved in many other forms of community service in college, including serving food in a soup kitchen, beautifying impoverished neighborhoods, restoring homes, and cleaning beaches. She spent a year working as a submission reviewer and writing coach for an Incarcerated Voices, an organization which promotes awareness about issues pertaining to the American criminal justice system. Jennifer has also worked as a Transitional Kindergarten Classroom Assistant, created graphic design work for small businesses, written and designed for the University Honors Program Newsletter, and contributed to a collaborative website redesign for the nonprofit organization Special Kids, Inc.

E M I LY P E A R S ON - G L OR IA T HOM A S S C HOL A R SH I PEmily B. Pearson is a Licensed Vocational Nursing student at Long Beach City College. She will be graduating from the program on December 13th, 2016. In addition to her nursing education, she is in her junior year at California State University Long Beach, pursing a Bachelor’s degree in Community Health Ed-ucation. Emily has been an active member of the Long Beach Branch NAACP since the age of four and has participated regularly in many of the youth and college programs available though the branch. Emily was a Long Beach Branch NAACP Youth council president and scholar. In 2011 she competed in the na-tional ACT-SO program representing the Long Beach branch in the category of entrepreneurship, and won the bronze medal. In 2017 she is planning on entering into a Registered Nursing program, so that she can continue with her educational goals. Emily’s amazing story of how she overcame the obstacles of

a single parent home, headed by a disabled mother is inspiring. Emily believes faith, perseverance ,positive attitude and helping others can change things and make a difference.

SHIRLEY VALVERDE - INTERNATIONAL REALTY & INVESTMENT SCHOLA R SH I P

CONTINUING SCHOLARS: Maiya Meeks- UC Berkley • Barry Johnson - Long Beach City College • Kyndra McDaniels -CSU Long Beach • Jordan Miller - CSU Long Beach

Shirley Valverde is majoring in psychology at CSULB. Her desire is to become a psy-chologist. Shirley graduated from Long Beach City College and Long Beach Uni-fied School District. She is proud of her involvement with the Long Beach Branch NAACP, a connection that began when she was 8 years old. Shirley participated in the first Law Day Program with Keesal, Young, and Logan over 14 years ago and has been a participant in both youth and adult NAACP projects, including Stay- in-School, Fit and Focus, Urban Ocean Festival with the Aquarium of the Pacific, the LB NAACP Annual Toy Drive, and the LB NAACP Freedom Fund. Currently, Shirley is a Long Beach Branch NAACP College Intern and Scholar. In addition to the many hours donated to the NAACP, she has been involved with volunteering at meals on wheels, being a teacher’s assistant in elementary schools, attending city clean-ups, and attending and helping out at community events.

LONG BEACH BRANCH NAACP SCHOLARSHIP FUND : To establish or support a LB Branch NAACP Scholarship, you may mail your donat ion to LB Branch NAACP Scholarship Fund - P.O. Box 1594, Long Beach, CA 90801. For addit ional information, emai l the branch at mnaacp@gmail .com or cal l (562) 856-7586.