Author: d-rm

All donations are tax deductible as part of the Santa Cruz Sister Cities Support group programs.  Santa Cruz Sister Cities Support is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (Tax ID #770575231).

Please be sure to type “Gralen Eidam Wilson Scholarship” in the special instructions field!

In 2020, we had more great applicants for our scholarship and were prepared to send two amazing youth to Sestri Levante – one had planned to do a project on dance and one had planned to do a project comparing wheelchair accessibility in the U.S. and Italy. Sadly, the pandemic forced us to cancel the planned exchange for last year. This year, we again are unable to send youth ambassadors overseas, but we have stayed in touch with the two students that were offered the scholarship in order to try and offer other ways of staying involved in the meantime.

One of the involvement opportunities we’ve offered is a virtual photo exchange being coordinated by the Santa Cruz-Sestri Levante subcommittee. We have invited all scholarship applicants from last year to participate. One photograph of their choice from the virtual exchange will be entered in the 2021 Young Artists and Authors Showcase organized by Sister Cities International and should follow this year’ theme: United in Hope. Furthermore, the subcommittee is looking into subsidizing Italian lessons for some of the students.

With the availability of vaccinations becoming more widespread, and with the loosening of travel restrictions on the horizon, we anticipate being able to send students in person to Sestri Levante next summer to act as youth ambassadors between our two cities! Your continued support helps secure those opportunities!

Donations in any amount are very much appreciated – $5, $10, $25 all add up!  Like last year, we’ll be offering a special incentive. In honor of Gralen’s birthday, from now through April 30, for donations of $100 or more we will send you a bottle of wine from Wilson Family Vineyards in appreciation of your generous support! 

All donations are tax deductible as part of the Santa Cruz Sister Cities Support group programs.  Santa Cruz Sister Cities Support is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (Tax ID #770575231).

Please be sure to type “Gralen Eidam Wilson Scholarship” in the special instructions field!

Gralen’s birthday month is here again, and again we are inviting donations to our scholarship fund to be made in her honor!

Last year’s scholarship recipients, Callie and Hannah, who represented Santa Cruz in Sestri Levante, Italy, and hosted incoming Italian students in their homes. (Gralen’s nephew, Mitchell, also participated in this exchange as a special delegate, though not a scholarship recipient – the only opportunity to have a family member participate in the exchange honoring her memory.)

This year we selected two outstanding youth to represent Santa Cruz in Sestri Levante, Italy. (With the current travel situation, plans for the 2020 exchange are on pause, but as these delegates are juniors in high school they will have first option for next year in the event that this year’s exchange does need to be postponed.)

Donations in any amount are very much appreciated – $5, $10, $25 all add up!  Like last year, we’ll be offering a special incentive. In honor of Gralen’s birthday, from now through April 30, for donations of $100 or more we will send you a bottle of wine from Wilson Family Vineyards in appreciation of your generous support! 

All donations are tax deductible as part of the Santa Cruz Sister Cities Support group programs.  Santa Cruz Sister Cities Support is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (Tax ID #770575231).

Please be sure to type “Gralen Eidam Wilson Scholarship” in the special instructions field!

 

Luca Ciotoli is a city council member in Sestri and was instrumental in working on the Italian side for a successful exchange this year. This is the first homestay youth exchange between Santa Cruz and Sestri Levante in about 30 years, and we are looking forward to supporting continued Sister Cities exchanges. Santa Cruz and the greater Sestri Levante community have historical ties, as fishing families from Sestri Levante and nearby Riva Trigoso settled in Santa Cruz in the early 20th century.  After the completion of the exchange, Luca wrote:

“The first edition of the Y.A.S. scholarship, a cultural exchange project organized by the municipality of Sestri Levante in collaboration with the community of Santa Cruz, has just ended.
“Giovanni and Elisa, winners of the scholarship, have thus transformed the migration route of our ancestors into a journey of education and knowledge.
“A heartfelt thanks to all those who collaborated on the project, from the community of Santa Cruz to all the people and associations in our area who welcomed the boys of the exchange with a warmth that we find hard to imagine.”

Thank you, Luca, and thank you to all of our donors who helped make this happen!

 

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More information and an introduction to come soon!

We had several outstanding candidates, every one of them with impressive qualities that made us appreciate what fantastic young people we have in our community!

Plans are underway for a summer 2019 homestay exchange with Sestri Levante, Italy, and the Gralen Eidam Wilson Youth Ambassador Scholarship Fund will be looking for local juniors or seniors in high school to award with a travel scholarship. Applications will be delivered to local high schools the first week of January, and will also be available to download from this site. Stay tuned!

Our first scholarship recipients, Emily and Thea, returned from Shingu on July 26 and have been spending the past two weeks with the incoming student delegation from Japan.  These were the youth from the families in Japan that hosted the girls, coming to Santa Cruz as part of an established exchange program with the Shingu subcommittee of the Sister Cities Committee.  Clearly, they all became great friends during this exchange! In Santa Cruz, the Japanese students also were able to experience family life in Santa Cruz, hosted by local families (including Emily and Thea’s families), and the Shingu subcommittee members had planned a full schedule of fun experiences for them.

Tonight at the farewell party for the Japanese students, Thea and Emily made a presentation of their scholarship project, which was comparing daily life in Shingu with daily life in Santa Cruz with slideshow and a photo album project.

 

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Emily and Thea got to visit historical shrines, beautiful landmarks, a fan festival, learn about traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, and even attend high school with their Japanese friends.  They raved about the Japanese food, and both agreed that the best part of the whole trip were the wonderful families that welcomed the two girls into their homes.

 

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Congratulations to our scholarship recipients for a great experience in citizen diplomacy, and thank you to our donors for giving them this opportunity!

Our first scholarship recipients left for Shingu on July 3 and return on July 26!  I thought our donors would enjoy reading this message we received last week from one of the girls, Emily…

I want to thank the committee greatly for this experience, and let you know that Thea and I are incredibly happy with how our stay in Shingu has begun! Our host families are beyond kind towards us, and I am glad to be with them! The students and population of Shingu as a whole have treated us with the upmost respect, and I am incredibly grateful! Thea and I have already begun to form our project and will be working on it more intensely as the days go by. Again, thank you greatly for this experience and I will forever be in debt to your kindness.

 

Your donations at work!  Thanks, and look for updates about future scholarships!