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2025 PLV Scholarship Winner Fares Nassar on Immigrating from Syria and Rebuilding His Life in Orange County, CA
I am honored to introduce this year’s Patricia Lynn Vermeulen-Tomocik (PLV) Scholarship recipient: Fares Nassar, a remarkable young leader whose integrity, resilience, and unrelenting pursuit of education embody the spirit of this award. Born and raised in Aleppo, Syria, Fares’s early life was marked by extraordinary challenges. As civil war swept across the country, he endured power outages, water shortages, missile strikes, and the loss of friends to both violence and migration. His family was displaced multiple times, and the world he once knew turned into one of survival and uncertainty. Yet amid the destruction, Fares sought light: through faith, through the hymns of his church choir, and through a…
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2024 PLV Scholarship Winner Beatriz Palacios on Growing Up in a First-Generation Family & Overcoming an Eating Disorder
I am thrilled to introduce Beatriz Palacios, the winner of the 2024 PLV Scholarship and a graduate of Foothill High School in Tustin, my mother Patricia’s alma mater. Earlier this month, my husband Shawn and I had the pleasure of meeting Beatriz in person at a café in Irvine. Putting a face to her application reaffirmed our decision. We were moved by her heartfelt expression of gratitude and inspired to learn more about the forces that have shaped her — both the hardships and the incredible triumphs. From the time she entered elementary school, Beatriz felt driven to achieve, harboring what she described as “hidden expectations” of herself in her…
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2023 PLV Scholarship Winner Anita Tun on Political Advocacy & Activism
On a sunny afternoon in late June, my husband Shawn and I met with 2023 PLV Scholarship winner Anita Tun, a graduate of Yorba Linda High School. After reading about her and her family’s unique and harrowing life experiences and consequent resilience in her powerful application essay, we were honored to have the opportunity to meet with Anita at a local coffee shop to get to know her better and hear more about her plans to study Global Affairs and International Business at Georgetown University. Anita was soft-spoken, respectful, and insightful beyond her years; it was immediately clear to us that we had selected a scholarship recipient who was committed…
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2022 PLV Scholarship Winner Aran Zakeri
I am pleased to announce Aran Zakeri as a 2022 winner of the PLV Scholarship.
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2021 PLV Scholarship Winner: Nina Yến Nhi Nguyễn on Constructing Her Cultural Identity and Initiating Empowering Conversations
I am proud to announce the 2021 PLV Scholarship winner, Nina Yến Nhi Nguyễn, who graduated valedictorian at Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove. Nina’s story includes her experience as a six-year-old child immigrant from Vietnam fiercely determined to help her family members create new lives in America. Nina assumed tremendous responsibility from a young age, not only translating regularly for her parents, but also overseeing such major financial operations as completing mortgage paperwork and choosing insurance plans before she was even old enough to drive a car. She worked multiple jobs throughout high school to help support her family, as well as provided financial assistance and transportation to…
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PLV Scholarship Winner: Iliana Goodhew on Immigrating to America and Her Father’s ALS
Due to generous donations from my sister Michella, my aunt Ginny, and my father Tom, I was able to kick off the Patricia Lynn Vermeulen-Tomocik (PLV) Scholarship’s first ever awards season by helping to select not just one, but three winners. The PLV Scholarship was founded in memory of my mother Patricia (1952-2014), whose giving spirit spread love, beauty, and happiness to those who knew her, those people who were made to feel special and appreciated by her genuine warmth and compassion. When the Scholarship Board reviewed applications last May, there were several outstanding candidates worthy of recognition. Board members, however, unanimously agreed that three applicants stood out as particularly…
