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Honorees 2007 2006 2005 2004
Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang
2003
John Chen
2002
Maxine Hong Kingston
2001
Kenneth Fong
Prior Years
Umang Gupta
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HOME > SCHOLARSHIPS & AWARDS > LOCAL LEADERS IN PHILANTHROPY > PREVIOUS HONOREES
Previous Honorees2004
Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang
William R. Tamayo
William R. Tamayo is the first Asian to serve as Regional Attorney at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Based at the EEOC's San Francisco District Office, he is the chief legal officer for Northern and Central California, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and defends more than 5.5 million Americans against workplace discrimination based on race, disability, gender and age. A graduate of San Francisco State University and University of California Davis Law School, he was previously the Managing Attorney of the Asian Law Caucus and is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum. Yoshihiro Uchida
Yoshihiro Uchida is the founder of Uchida Enterprises, Inc. and the founder and former owner of Y. Uchida Enterprises and Laboratory Services, a network of forty medical testing laboratories. Deeply involved in the management of his business and in creating safeguards for the post-WWII Japanese-American community in the South Bay, Mr. Uchida is also a seventh-degree black-belt judo expert. He built the nation's first collegiate judo program at San Jose State University, was instrumental in the acceptance of judo as an Olympic sport, and was chosen in 1964 as the first U.S. Olympic judo coach. An active and generous leader of community initiatives, he was the founder of the Nihonmachi Corporation, a developer of affordable housing for Japantown in San Jose. 2003
John Chen
John sits on the board and is a member of many corporations and distinguished organizations including: CIT, TurboLinux, Chinese Software Professionals Association, Business Software Alliance, Watson Institute for International Studies Board of Overseers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the NYSE advisory committee, and Committee of 100. John is also a leading contributor and fund raiser for the Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies at UC Berkeley. Full Biography | Back to 2003 Honorees | Back to Top Talat F. Hasan
Talat F. Hasan was Chairman, CEO, and Founder of Sensys Instruments, which was acquired by Therma-Wave, Inc. in January 2002. Talat currently serves as a board member of Therma-Wave. Talat is Chairperson and Trustee of the new India Community Center, located in Milpitas and with another location opening in Santa Clara. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of Castilleja School, Indian Business and Professional Women and was a Charter Member of The IndUS Entrepreneurs. Talat and her husband Kamil established the Hasan Family Foundation and endowed a chair in Indian classical music at UC Santa Cruz. Full Biography | Back to 2003 Honorees | Back to 2003 Honorees | Back to Top Hua Ngo
Hua Ngo is Founder and President of H & N Foods International, Inc. a private, San Francisco-based wholesaler of seafood with annual revenues of $240 million. He founded H & N Fish in 1981, which grew into the largest seafood wholesaler in the region, importing seafood from 40 states in the US and 14 countries abroad. Hua is committed to humanitarian projects in Vietnam, building a school in his former village and donating to flood relief projects. He is a regular contributor to the local charities and the Vietnamese American community. Full Biography | Back to 2003 Honorees | Back to Top Dale Minami
Dale Minami is a partner with the law firm Minami, Lew and Tamaki LLP in San Francisco. He co-founded the Asian Law Caucus, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, the Asian Pacific Bar of California, and the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans. He was a Board Member of the Asian Pacific Fund in 1995. Dale is best known for civil rights litigation involving Asian Pacific Americans, including Korematsu vs. United States, which vindicated Japanese Americans for refusing to obey incarceration orders during WWII, orders originally upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. This year, Dale received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association for his lifetime of civil rights work. Full Biography | Back to 2003 Honorees | Back to Top 2002
Her first book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (1976), was published while Maxine was teaching creative writing at a private school in Hawaii. She lived in Hawaii for 17 years and also taught English at the University of Hawaii, before returning to California. Maxine joined the UC Berkeley English Department in 1989. For her memoirs and fiction, The Woman Warrior, China Men, Tripmaster Monkey, and Hawaii One Summer, Maxine has earned numerous awards, among them the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Pen West Award for Fiction, and an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Literature Award, as well as the rare title of "Living Treasure of Hawaii." In 1997, Maxine received the National Humanities Medal award from President Bill Clinton for her accomplishments in thought and culture. In 1991, after a fire burned her home and the manuscript for her fourth novel, Maxine started a writing workshop for Vietnam veterans, many of whom suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. The group still meets 'once a season, to read and write and meditate,' according to Maxine. Maxine was born and raised in Stockton, California. She earned a BA in English Literature from the University of California, Berkeley.
Full Biography | Back to 2002 Honorees | Back to Top
Lip-Bu Tan
Lip-Bu has been dubbed "The Pioneer of Asian VC" by Forbes Magazine and named "Venture Capitalist of the Year" at the prestigious 2001 Asian Venture Capital Awards held in Hong Kong. Prior to founding Walden International, Lip-Bu was Vice President at Chappell & Co. and held management positions at EDS Nuclear and ECHO Energy. In addition to his professional commitments, Lip-Bu is actively involved with many favorite charities, including International Justice Mission, Schools Online, and Harbor House Ministries. He is also an Elder and Session Member of the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, a designation reserved for the most active church leaders. Lip-Bu holds a BS in Physics from Nanyang University in Singapore, an MS in Nuclear Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. Lip-Bu was born in Malaysia.
Full Biography | Back to 2002 Honorees | Back to Top 2001
Kenneth Fong
Kenneth Fong is Founder and Chairman of Kenson Ventures, a venture capital firm that provides funds and strategic advice to biotechnology start-ups and companies. Prior to Kenson, he founded Clontech Laboratories in 1984, a molecular biology company that grew to 400 employees and posted revenues of $80 million dollars before merging with Becton Dickinson in 1999. Born in China, Ken received a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry at San Francisco State University, five years after emigrating from Hong Kong. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biology at Indiana University. Today, he nurtures the emerging biotechnology field here and in Asia by serving on non-profit and university boards and government-sponsored institutes. Ken has volunteered much of his time and resources to promoting understanding of Asian Americans, including lead support on a PBS documentary on the Chinese American experience during World War II. A member of the Chinese American advocacy group, Committee of 100, Ken also supports the 80-20 Initiative, a non-partisan organization whose mission is to win fair representation of Asian Americans in political appointments. Ken and his wife Pamela are devoted philanthropists, supporting local educational and cultural institutions such as San Francisco State University, the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project and the senior service agency, Self-Help for the Elderly. The couple made a $1.5 million pledge to the University of California at Berkeley that will provide a modern medical library facility to the School of Optometry, which can be viewed at http://spectacle.berkeley.edu. Full Biography | Back to 2001 Honorees | Back to Top
Koichi Nishimura
Koichi Nishimura is President, CEO and Chairman of Solectron Corporation, the world's largest electronics manufacturing company. A visionary thinker, Ko has led the development of the EMS industry and Solectron's expansion into more than 20 countries on five continents. Under his leadership, the company has won the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award twice. In 2000, Ko received the M. Eugene Merchant Manufacturing Medal for his leadership in the field. Originally a physical education major in college, Ko received bachelors and master's degrees in engineering from San Jose State University and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Stanford. He is committed to creating opportunities for growth for his employees and emphasizes that it is important to "give each and every person an opportunity to succeed." Born in Pasadena, California, Ko spent four years of his childhood in an interment camp during World War II. Raised Buddhist, he has been very active in the San Jose Buddhist Church. His belief in the traditional Japanese value of "kyosei", or mutually rewarding co-existence, infuses his role as CEO. Ko has encouraged both individual employees and Solectron as a company to invest in the communities in which they operate. From education to culture, Solectron has been a strong partner in community efforts across the board. Personally, he has supported San Jose based nonprofits, Yu-Ai Kai Senior Community Center, Asian Law Alliance, and Asian Americans for Community Involvement. Full Biography | Back to 2001 Honorees | Back to Top
Kanwal Rekhi
Kanwal Rekhi is a Silicon Valley angel investor. A former president of The IndUS Entrepreneurs, Kanwal has provided advice to countless Indian American entrepreneurs, has invested in more than 50 ventures and serves on the boards of over a dozen start-ups. Kanwal founded Excelan with two other colleagues. Only seven years later, Novell bought the company for $200 million. Excelan was the first Indian-led corporation to receive mainstream venture capital. Since then Kanwal and TiE have blazed a trail for many Indian executives. Born in what is now Pakistan, Kanwal has been a tireless advocate on behalf of increased U.S. understanding of India and supported the first exhibit on Sikh arts at the Asian Art Museum in winter of 1999. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay) and Michigan Technological University, Kanwal has been a generous supporter of both his alma maters; $5 million for a new Information Technology school at IIT and $5 million for a new Center for Integrated learning at Michigan Tech. Kanwal has also generously supported general education, pledging $1 million every year for five years to the Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit that sponsors the education of bright and poor children in India. Particularly focused on education of girls, Kanwal notes that "if you educate a girl, you educate a family down the road." Full Biography | Back to 2001 Honorees | Back to Top 2000
Umang Gupta
After leaving Oracle he built his own software Company, Gupta Corporation (now named Centura Software Corporation), which grew to become one of the world's largest software tools and database companies by the mid-'90s. He also served on the Board of Trustees of Mosaix, a publicly held call-center system company from 1997 to 1999 until its sale to Lucent Technologies. Umang received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kanpur and his M.B.A. from Kent State University in Ohio. He was named the 1996 recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Kanpur for his entrepreneurial achievements in information technology. In addition to his professional success, Umang is dedicated to his family and to his community work. He and his wife Ruth took the lead in the founding of a respite care home for disabled children, named Raji House in memory of their son. Both Umang and Ruth continue to devote their time to PARCA, the Peninsula Association of Retarded Children and Adults, the nonprofit organization that operates Raji House, as well as to Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough where Umang sits on the Board of Trustees. Full Biography | Back to 2000 Honorees | Back to Top
Sam Yamada
Through his leadership at The Bank of California, Mr. Yamada advocated for the Japanese-based company's extensive community involvement and set an example for personal philanthropy. He has served on numerous boards including the United Way of the Bay Area, the Japan Society, the San Francisco Symphony and the California Chamber of Commerce. He serves on the boards of the George Lucas Educational Foundation, the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, the San Francisco Opera, University of San Francisco's Center for the Pacific Rim and just retired from the Board of Trustees at the University of San Francisco. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Mr. Yamada graduated from the University of Tokyo Law School. He has dedicated much of his time to promoting corporate philanthropy and improving understanding between Japanese and American business cultures. In 1990, he was recognized for his work with the Japanese government's prestigious Ministry of Foreign Affairs Award for his significant contributions towards mutual understanding between the United States and Japan. In 1992, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California honored him for his devoted community service. Full Biography | Back to 2000 Honorees | Back to Top 1999
Kamran Elahian
In addition to his business success, Kamran is Founder, Co-Chairman, and major benefactor of Schools Online, a nonprofit organization that has brought Internet access to over 5,000 schools in disadvantaged areas of 45 states and 10 countries. Born in Tehran, Iran, Kamran immigrated to the U.S. in 1972 and received a B.S. in computer science, a B.S. in mathematics, and a Master of Engineering in computer graphics from the University of Utah. He was named "Master Entrepreneur" at the Northern California 1999 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in San Francisco. Back to 1999 Honorees | Back to Top
Vinita Gupta
Vinita holds a Bachelor's degree in electronics and communications from the University of Roorkee and an M.S.E.E. from UCLA. Before founding Digital Link, Vinita held engineering management positions at Bell Northern Research Systems. Born in India, Vinita is a major supporter of Maitri, which helps South Asian women facing domestic violence, emotional abuse, or family conflict. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and is a Charter Member of The IndUS Entrepreneurs. Vinita was recognized by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the most influential businesswomen in the Bay Area. For two consecutive years, Working Woman magazine has named Digital Link one of the top 500 women-owned businesses in the United States. Back to 1999 Honorees | Back to Top
Leslie Tang Schilling
Leslie's charitable work includes serving as an officer of The Tang Foundation and Co-Founder of Toys for the Tenderloin, a nonprofit volunteer organization that distributes toys during the holidays to children 12 and younger in the Tenderloin neighborhood. The Tang Foundation supports youth programs such as summer school academic enrichment for low-income students around the Bay Area. Leslie received a Bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master's degree in international management from the American Graduate School of International Management. She is a Board Member for MIT, KQED, the San Francisco Zoological Society, the UCSF Foundation, and Golden West Financial Corporation. Back to 1999 Honorees | Back to Top 1998
Diosdado P. Banatao
A native of the Philippines, Dado looks for ways to translate his industry expertise and contacts into programs benefiting the Philippines. As Chairman of the Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), Dado works with other Filipino Americans in this region to bring resources together to realize the Philippines' potential as a newly industrialized country by the year 2000. On a personal level, Dado contributes both time and experience to companies and various institutions in the Philippines. In 1993, Dado was awarded both the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations and the Distinguished Asian Leadership Award by the Asian Business League of San Francisco. In 1997, he was honored by Ernst & Young, Inc. Magazine and Merrill Lynch Business Financial Services as "Master Entrepreneur of the Year." Back to 1998 Honorees | Back to Top
Stanley T. Wang
In 1989, Stanley also founded Amertron Inc., a manufacturing facility in the Philippines to complement its U.S. plant. Born in China, Stanley holds a Bachelor's degree in business/management from the National Taiwan University and a M.B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia. In 1994 he was appointed by the Governor, and ratified by the Senate, as a Trustee for California State University through the year 2002. Stanley was a founder of the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association, a national association dedicated to promoting the exchange of technology, trade, and investment between Asia and the United States. He has served as a Board Member for the Asian American Manufacturer's Association and is a member of the Committee of 100. Back to 1998 Honorees | Back to Top 1997
Pauline Lo Alker
Pauline Lo Alker is President and Chief Executive Officer of Network Peripherals, Inc., which received its initial startup funding in 1990 to meet the demands for high performance networking solutions for small to mid-size enterprises. Joining the company in January 1991, she was widely acclaimed for successfully leading the company to an IPO and secondary offering in 1994 which raised a total in excess of $45 million, prompting both USA Today and the Wall Street Journal to name NPI "1994's best IPO performer." In 1996, the company's sales rose to $53.1 million, and it continued its fast-paced development with the acquisitions of NuCom Systems Inc. of Taiwan in 1996, and NetVision Inc. of New York this year. Prior to Network Peripherals, Mrs. Alker held executive management positions at Convergent Technologies and Acer, Inc., the latter position following Acer's acquisition of Counterpoint Computers, a company she founded in 1984. Mrs. Alker came to the U.S. in 1960 to attend Arizona State University after spending her childhood in Hong Kong, where her family moved from China during the 1949 revolution. She received her B.A. degree with double majors in music and mathematics. "I have been blessed with numerous opportunities in this country. I feel very lucky because I get to do the things I love to do in high tech - an industry that I have been in love with for over 32 years. And now my passion is to give my time to promising young professionals who are constantly searching for the values in life and to achieve a healthy balance between life and work. This is my chosen path towards giving back to my community and my country," Mrs. Alker indicated. An active member of the Asian American Manufacturer's Association, she has served two terms as president of the organization, and continues to act as a special advisor. She is also a trustee of the Asian Art Museum and has served as a Board Member of the San Jose Symphony. Back to 1997 Honorees | Back to Top
Chong-Moon Lee
Founder and Chairman of Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc., Chong-Moon Lee is Chairman and CEO of both AmBex Technologies, Inc. and AmBex Venture Group, LLC. Diamond Multimedia has achieved the No. 1 ranking in revenue and market share for PC Graphic accelerator products in America and reported $598 million in revenues for 1996. A native of Seoul, Korea, who came to the U.S. in 1970, Mr. Lee has a diverse background. A consulting professor at Stanford University, he has worked as an assistant librarian at the National Central Library of Korea, served as a board member of the UNESCO Korean Chapter and Korean Olympic Committee, and also served as President of the Cycling Federation of Korea. To foster stronger relationships between the U.S. and Asia, he accompanied President Clinton to the APEC conference in Manila as a member of the U.S. business delegation, and is serves as Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the U.S. and Asia Pacific Information Technology Summit. An active participant and philanthropist in the local community, Mr. Lee contributed $15 million to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and established the Educational Technology Scholarship Program to bring Asian educators to the International Conference on Technology and Education. The Los Angeles Times named him as America's 21st ranked philanthropist (December 25, 1996). He is a Commissioner and Trustee of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, a founding Board Member of The Tech Museum of Innovation, and a Board Member of the American Red Cross in Santa Clara. Back to 1997 Honorees | Back to Top
Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin is President and Chief Operating Officer of AirTouch Communications and Chairman of the Board for PrimeCo Personal Communications, a wireless joint venture launched by AirTouch, USWest, and Bell Atlantic. Prior to this, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of AirTouch International, and held executive management positions with the Pacific Telesis Group, where he worked for ten years before the AirTouch spin-off in 1994. AirTouch Communications is now a $20 billion global leader in wireless communications, operating in 12 countries around the world including Japan, Korea, and India. Mr. Sarin was born in India where he studied engineering before arriving in the U.S. in 1975 to pursue M.B.A. and M.S. degrees at the University of California at Berkeley. While at Berkeley he began a twenty-year long association with the International House, which he credits with providing him opportunities for cultural sharing and understanding that have enriched both his business and personal affairs. International House has honored Mr. Sarin as "Alumnus of the Year." Back to 1997 Honorees | Back to Top
Cora M. Tellez
Cora M. Tellez is President of Prudential HealthCare Plan of California, Inc., part of the Prudential HealthCare Group, which provides coverage to over 14 million individuals. She is responsible for Prudential's HealthCare Operation in California, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, with annual revenues of $1 billion. She attained this position after 20 years in the health care industry and leadership positions with both Blue Shield, where she was Senior Vice President and Regional Chief Executive of the Bay Region, and Kaiser Permanent, where for five of her sixteen years with the organization she was Vice President and Regional Manager of the Hawaii Region. Ms. Tellez came to the U.S. in 1961, after spending the early part of her childhood growing up in Paranaque, south of Manila in the Philippines. She returned to the Philippines to study during her junior year at college. "I came back to the United States with a clear resolve to seek American commitment to help extend opportunities to others," she said. Her community involvement began early, at age 11, when her mother asked her to go door to door on behalf of the March of Dimes, American Heart Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and American Cancer Society. Ms. Tellez is a member of the Philippine International Aid (PIA), the S.H. Cowell Foundation, Holy Names College, Asian Community Mental Health Services (ACMHS), and the UCSF School of Dentistry Advisory Board. She also sits on the Board of Glendale Federal Bank. |
Cecilia Sun Yun Chiang, founder and former owner of The Mandarin in San Francisco, is a respected culinary expert. She is credited with revolutionizing Chinese cuisine in the United States by introducing the public to regional Chinese food at The Mandarin. A favorite of the late Herb Caen and collaborator and colleague of other highly acclaimed chefs, such as Alice Waters, Marion Cunningham, the late Julia Child and James Beard, Madame Chiang has been officially retired for more than a decade but continues to actively consult for new restaurant enterprises throughout the U.S. She has been an active volunteer and supporter of the Chinese American International School.
John Chen joined Sybase Inc. in 1997, where he was
recruited as
President and Chief Operating Officer. He was named Chairman, CEO, and
President of Sybase in October 1998. 
Maxine Hong Kingston is a celebrated author and a National Humanities Medal Recipient.
Lip-Bu Tan is Chairman and Founder of Walden International, a first tier multinational venture capital firm with headquarters in San Francisco and offices throughout Asia. Lip-Bu has 20 years of high-tech and VC experience, focusing on nurturing startups in both Asia and the U.S.
"[My husband] likes to be a part of things that have an impact on others, to create something that will leave a legacy for future generations." - Pamela Fong, 2001
"I've learned that the only constant is people… give each and every person an opportunity to succeed." -Ko Nishimura, 2001
"Asians have competed their way to the top of the heap in the Silicon Valley and have created more than their fair share of wealth. The kind of drive and determination that made people thrive here economically is also being put to work on social problems." - Kanwal Rekhi, 2001
Umang Gupta is Chairman and CEO of Keynote Systems, the worldwide leader in e-commerce benchmarking and Web performance management services. Umang began his career in the high tech industry with IBM in 1973. A technology visionary and early Silicon Valley entrepreneur, he wrote the first business plan for Oracle in 1981 and served as VP and General Manager of its PC division through 1984.
Sam Yamada retired as Chairman and CEO of The Bank of California in 1991, but continues his involvement in the business sector as a director of Solectron Corporation, a worldwide provider of electronics manufacturing services, and as advisor to The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd.
Kamran Elahian is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with over 23 years of experience in the hi-tech industry. In a single year, he co-founded Actelis Networks, Inc., Global Catalyst Partners, cahoots.com, and KangarooNet. He is the Co-Founder and Chairman of NeoMagic, a multimedia semiconductor company which launched a $300 million IPO in its fourth year, PlanetWeb, an internet communication software company, and Centillium Communications, a telecommunication IC company developing X-DSL broadband solutions.
Vinita Gupta is Chair, President, and CEO of Digital Link Corporation, one of the leading providers of high-performance, cost-effective digital network access products for both narrowband and broadband applications. Under her leadership, the Sunnyvale-based corporation has grown into a global business, earning over $54 million in revenues in 1998.
Leslie Tang Schilling is Founder and President of L.T.D.D. and Golden Bay Investments, where she manages and invests a portfolio of $150 million in global assets. She owns a real estate company in San Francisco, Union Square Investments, and has worked for The Chartered Bank of London's San Francisco office and Wells Fargo Bank.
Diosdado (Dado) P. Banatao is one of Silicon Valley's best-known and most successful entrepreneurs. Before joining Mayfield Fund in 1998, Dado founded three Silicon Valley semiconductor companies: S3 Inc., Chips+Technologies, Inc., and Mostron. He also serves as Chairman of SIRF Technology, Marvell Semiconductor, New Moon Software, Stream Machines, and Silicon Access - all privately held companies - and as a Board Member of ISSI.
Stanley T. Wang is the Founder, President and CEO of Pantronix Corporation. The company, incorporated in 1974, provides a wide range of manufacturing services for semiconductor components, subsystems, and modules, and serves a wide customer base from around the world in the medical, aerospace, telecommunications, automotive, instrumentation, and computer industries.
"I've been a true, patriotic American citizen for a long time. I believe in the American dream. I'm a living example of it." - Pauline Lo Alker in the San Jose Mercury News, October 27, 1996
"Not only Koreans but many successful first-generation Asian immigrants who came to this country took advantage of what already existed, and it is our responsibility to make this country better. - Chong-Moon Lee in the San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 1995
"Together we can rise above old stereotypes about how hard it is for Asians to succeed in Corporate America. Many Fortune 500 companies already have Asians in their senior ranks. I've seen for myself that anything is possible." -Arun Sarin, September 1997
"As an Asian American in a leadership position, I'm conscious of modeling values and behaviors that reflect positively on my family, my company, and my racial heritage. It's a tremendous privilege and responsibility at the same time." -Cora M. Tellez, October 1997