OCA Announces the First-Ever Olga May Wong Memorial Public Service Scholar

For Immediate Release

November 17, 2023

Media Contact: 
Socheata Sun, Communications Fellow
socheata.sun@ocanational.org

Washington, D.C. OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates announced Isabel Lam as the first-ever recipient of the Olga May Wong Memorial Public Service Scholarship Fund.

The scholarship fund is supported by the generous donation of the Wong family, and grants $2,000 to a college student who has an unpaid internship at a local or federal government office in the U.S. The scholarship pays tribute to Olga May Wong, a beloved wife, mother and grandmother who peacefully passed away last year. Olga May Wong had to leave school when she was only 8 years old and she always emphasized the importance of education above all else.

Isabel Lam is a first-generation Chinese-Vietnamese American student studying Political Science and Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. Throughout her high school and college experience, she’s been a strong advocate in the Menstrual Movement, advocating for, securing, and providing free menstrual products to women and girls on campus. Over the summer, Isabel was a Legislative Intern at U.S. Congressman Matt Cartwright’s D.C. office. Learn more about Isabel here.

"Our family is pleased to support the next generation of AANHPI leaders through a scholarship in our family's matriarch honor. Mom would have been proud to see her legacy continued through an OCA scholarship," said family spokesperson Sharon M. Wong.

"There is no greater need than to stand up and support vulnerable and underserved populations. As an immigrant to this country, seeing her children in government service, as one who had an unbelievably strong faith in the goodness of people, and that family and community were most important, and as a lifetime OCA member, this scholarship encapsulates all the things that represented the life she lived."

OCA congratulates Isabel Lam on her outstanding accomplishments and wishes her all the best in her endeavors.

More information about the Olga May Wong Memorial Public Service Scholarship Fund is available here. Please direct questions to OCA’s Manager of Programs Kent Tong at kent.tong@ocanational.org.

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About OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates

Founded in 1973, OCA–Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national, member-driven social justice organization of community advocates dedicated to advancing the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Learn more about our work at ocanational.org/about.

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