Education & Scholarships

High School Junior Internship Program

The San Mateo Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is pleased to announce our high school internship for 2025-2026, which is open to incoming high school juniors and seniors.

The application deadline is May 26, 2025 and applications and letters of recommendation should be emailed to jaclsanmateo@gmail.com.

Eligibility Requirements:

Applicants must be incoming high school juniors and seniors who are members of the San Mateo Chapter of the JACL. To join the San Mateo JACL, please visit https://www.sanmateojacl.org and apply to be a youth/student member.
Applicants must have an interest in Japanese culture.
Applicants must be available for required events as described in the attached calendar of events

Opportunities Include:

Helping at the San Mateo JACL booth at the Millbrae Japanese Festival.
Helping at a Japanese cultural activity for youth at the San Mateo Japanese Community Center.
Visiting the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.
Joining our chapter board meetings and presenting updates on intern activities.

Upon successful completion of the internship students will receive a stipend to use on school expenses such as college fees. Additionally, selected students will be given top priority if they apply for our High School Senior Scholarship.

Application Requirements:

A completed internship application
One letter of recommendation
An interview with the San Mateo JACL internship committee will be requested for all eligible applicants.

Thank you for informing your students about our internship program. For more information, please feel free to email me at jaclsanmateo@gmail.com.

Education

The San Mateo JACL is offering to provide copies of the 4th edition of the curriculum and resource guide entitled "A Lesson in American History: The Japanese American Experience". The guide provides teachers with historically correct background information, resources, reproducible visuals and source documents, and lesson plans for all grade levels.

Our goal in providing this resource for San Mateo County schools is to offer accurate information for teaching the significance of the "Day of Remembrance" and the history of Japanese Americans. The curriculum guide provides all teachers with materials to teach Japanese American history during World War II as outlined in the California History/Social Studies standards. It is our hope that the material on the Japanese American experience will impact classroom discussions of current events, such as the INS special registration policies. The San Mateo JACL and other civil rights organizations are working to prevent the repetition of past injustices.

If you would like additional copies of the curriculum guide, more information about the San Mateo JACL, or a speaker for your class, please leave a message at (650) 593-7358.

Educational Resources

(from jacl.org)

Japanese American History

Map of Concentration Camps

WWII Exclusion Order

Constitutional Rights Violations

Asian Pacific American History

Power of Words - Handbook

Power of Words - Implementation

JACL Scholarship Program

The San Mateo Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is pleased to announce our scholarship program for the 2025-2026 school year. Eligible high school seniors are invited to submit applications via email to jaclsanmateo@gmail.com by March 31, 2025. San Mateo Chapter scholarship recipients will be announced in April. Please note that the National JACL has a separate scholarship program which can be found on their website jacl.org/membership/.

Eligibility Requirements:

Every applicant must be a member of the National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). To join the JACL, please visit https://jacl.org/member/. JACL membership is open to everyone of any ethnic background. Note: applicants must hold an Individual or Student/Youth Membership. The cost of membership is $30 and there are many benefits to membership. Joining at the time of the application submission meets our eligibility requirements.
Applicants must be seniors enrolled in a San Mateo County public or private high school.
Applicants will be partially judged on their involvement in the Japanese-American / Asian American community.
Applicants must be planning to attend a college, university, trade school, business school or any other institution of higher learning within the United States.

Application Requirements:

San Mateo Chapter JACL Scholarship Application, available on our website: www.sanmateojacl.org
A Letter of Recommendation
Official high school transcript
Personal Statement (no more than two pages on the topic question)

Complete applications must be emailed no later than March 31, 2025 to jaclsanmateo@gmail.com. An interview with the San Mateo JACL scholarship committee members will be requested for finalists.

Thank you for informing your students about our scholarship program. For more information, please feel free to email me at jaclsanmateo@gmail.com.