Two scholarships named for former chairpersons of AmCham HK went to six young awardees, while 16 received books and book vouchers from a fund named for former AmCham HK President Frank Martin
The AmCham Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic division of AmCham. Founded in 1985, it is a separate legal entity with a core mission to contribute to the communities in Hong Kong and its surrounding region, leveraging its influence with the international business community.
In addition to philanthropic work with partner organizations, annually the foundation makes scholarship awards under two funds, named for former AmCham HK chairpersons Lyn Edinger (1993) and Thomas Gorman (1995). A third fund, the Frank Martin Prize Book Award, is named for former AmCham chairman (1983) and AmCham president Frank Martin (1990 to 2004).
The Lyn Edinger US Studies Scholarships, established in 2002, provides HK$24,000 scholarships for secondary school graduates in Hong Kong who have been accepted to full-time undergraduate programs in the United States. The Tom Gorman Scholars Award, introduced in 1977, recognizes full-time MBA students from the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with checks for HK$15,000 and certificates of merit. The Frank Martin Prize Book Award, introduced in 1986, awards books and a HK$1,000 book voucher to students in the next to graduating class from 20 participating Hong Kong secondary schools and colleges.
This year’s Lyn Edinger scholarships went to three young people, Anita Qian, a graduate of the Hong Kong International School who will be going to the University of California, Berkeley, in the fall; Ingrid Wai Hin Chan, a graduate of the German Swiss International School who will be going to the University of Pennsylvania; and Tiffany Ming To Suen, from St. Paul’s Co-educational College, who has been accepted by Columbia University.
Anita Qian received a HK$8,000 grant from the American Club Foundation in 2023 for a project teaching art to refugee children, where she was first screened by a panel of judges and then received the second-most number of votes from the public. She founded a non-profit retail store, Cristal HK, partnering with a local NGP to raise money for refugees by selling candles and jewelry, and was also president of the Economics Society at HKIS. She has also been a member and leader of the Migrant Power Club, which raises funds and holds events for Filipino and Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong.
In her personal statement, she wrote: “There’s a famous anecdote about a young girl on the beach, throwing starfish back into the ocean, which had been washed up during a storm. When asked by an older man how she could make a difference when there were so many stranded starfish on the beach, she replied that each starfish she saved was a small victory in the individual starfish’s life.” She intends to major in environmental economics to explore the intersection between economic growth and the environment.
Ms. Chan was awarded both the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Award and the South China Morning Post Student of the Year Award for Scientists and Mathematicians. Among her achievements is a Multi-Sensory Mixed Reality Therapy for Dementia, which won a gold medal with congratulations at the Geneva International Exhibition of inventions in 2023. She was the first secondary school student to be so honored.
Ms. Suen researches astrophysics, quantum computing and geophysics, and was also among the top 10 Hong Kong Outstanding Students awardees in 2022 to 2023 and took third place in the SCMP Student of the Year Scientists and Mathematicians Awards in 2023. “The next Marie Curie for astrophysics – that is what we firmly believe Tiffany is destined to become,” according to her student counselor at St. Paul’s.
Tom Gorman Scholar Awards went to Chayanin Wong of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Del Mundo Gillian Sero of the Chinese University of Science and Technology, and Shing Ming Nelson Cho of the University of Hong Kong.
Chayanin Wong, a first-year student in the MBA program at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Wong won first place in HKUST’s elevator pitch competition in January 2024 and is working as an investment analyst intern at MTR Lab, a corporate venture capital subsidiary of Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation.
Ms. Sero has taken part in the Bloomberg Investment Challenge, the MBA Impact Investing Networking and Training run by Bridges Foundation, and the Wharton ESG Initiative, as well as serving as treasurer in the student-run Innovation and Entrepreneurship Club.
Mr. Cho was a senior consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Beijing prior to entering the MBA program at the University of Hong Kong in August 2023 and has degrees in public policy from the University of Southern California as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science and international affairs from the University of California, Riverside.
The Lyn Edinger US Study Scholarships were presented by Charitable Foundation trustees Professor Steve DeKrey, Mark Michelson and Jon Zinke. The Tom Gorman Scholar Awards were presented by Charitable Foundation trustee Beverly Sunn and AmCham President Eden Woon.
The Frank Martin Prize Book Awards were presented by Eden Woon, president of AmCham Hong Kong, and Mark Michelson and Beverly Sunn, from the Board of Trustees of the Charitable Foundation.
The 16 recipients of the Frank Martin Book Prize received their books and HK$1,000 book vouchers on June 21 at the AmCham Community Hub, while the six scholarship awardees were celebrated at a lunch at the American Club on June 26.