THROUGH THE FIRE: Defending DEI at Lincoln High School: The May Kishiyama Scholarship

By Mary Uyematsu Kao

One of the things I’ve been donating to for quite a few years is the May Kishiyama Memorial Scholarship.

I became aware of it because my long-time friend Buck Wong helped found the scholarship. He retired from a teaching career at Lincoln High School, but he still volunteers his time to the Lincoln High Educational Project (LHEP), which coordinates the Kishiyama Scholarship and the Lincoln High Mentoring Program. Buck is also the president of LHEP, a 501(c)(3) program.

So who was May Kishiyama and how did her memorial scholarship come about?

Eleven years after the establishment of the Kishiyama Memorial Scholarship, Rosa Delgadillo wrote an article for Lincoln High’s student newspaper, The Railsplitter , in 2019. She explains why the Kishiyama Scholarship “has st