The Walt Dulaney and George Kon Scholarship Fund was established to assist in the education and life dreams of a well-deserved and talented student within T-Shirt Theatre!
The scholarship is managed by the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, and was awarded for this first time in the spring. This scholarship fulfills a long held dream of Walt and George to pursue the mission of “helping young Hawaii rehearse for life.”
The first recipient of the Walt Dulaney and George Kon Scholarship is Jake Martin who received $1,000 to support his college career. He emigrated to Hawai‘i with his family at age seven. Jake said watching cartoons in the Philippines helped him learn English. All of his three siblings dropped out of school. He earned a 4.3 GPA and was one of six valedictorians in his class. By graduation, he was already taking classes at Honolulu Community College.
“I’m from Ilocos Norte, Philippines and it was life on the farm,” Jake said. “We were one of the poorest families there. [Now] I am on a full ride: grants from Princeton University, Federal Pell Grant and my scholarship from you” said Martin. The Dept. of Education noted that Jake is the first student from Farrington to be accepted into an Ivy League school in the last four years and possibly the first to ever be accepted into Princeton.
“I do aspire to start my own non-profit organization one day to make sure I give something back. I did not know that it was the first ever TST scholarship. Thank you so much! I didn’t get a chance to tell you how much TST had affected me. It really was the beginning of me breaking out of my shell. It gave me the confidence to step outside the box. I’m honored that I was able to participate in that program for over a year. Thank you for everything! I had just claimed the award.” –Jake Martin
Awesome, Kalihi’s Finest!