At the Costa Mesa High School Senior Awards Night held on May 25, Marycruz Zamprano Ventura was presented the 2022 Roger Yamanaka Scholarship.

This scholarship, now in its 13th year, was established by Russell Yamanaka in memory of his cousin Roger, a 1965 graduate of Costa Mesa High School who was killed in action during the Vietnam War at the battle of Khe Sanh in 1968.

Ventura is graduating with a 3.97 GPA and will be attending UC Irvine in the fall. She plans to double major in political science and psychology with a career goal as a family attorney. She and her two older sisters are the first in the family to attend college.

She has been on the honor roll all four years in high school, and was the team captain and president for the Mock Trial Club. She is active with the Big Brother Big Sister program and was a scholar athlete each year for maintaining a GPA of 3.5 or higher while participating in cross country, soccer, and track & field.

Also receiving an award in the name of Roger Yamanaka was Lucero Islas, who is graduating with a 3.82 GPA and will be attending San Jose State University in the fall, majoring in bio-engineering. She plans to be a designer of children’s prosthetics. Islas will be the first in her family to attend college.

For more information about the scholarship, email Russell Yamanaka at [email protected].

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