SF Bay Area Scholars

 

The Bay Area scholar recipients for the year 2009 are the following:

 

          Alexander Abubo Austria, son of Ferdinand & Rose Bella Austria of San Francisco, CA.  Alexander graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco.  He is currently enrolled at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA and will major in the field of Engineering or Sports Management.

 

          Kristine Leigh Luis, daughter of Benny & Wilma Luis of San Leandro, CA.  Kristine was our First Princess, Fiesta 2008.  She graduated from Saint Elizabeth High School in Oakland.  She is currently enrolled at University of California, Berkeley and will major in Psychology.

 

          Over the past 8 years, the association has awarded scholarship aid to high school graduates who were descendants of bona fide Paniquenians in the Bay Area and Northern California.  Everyone is encouraged to apply for this scholarship aid given by the PaniqueniansUSA, Inc.

Applications and criteria can be downloaded from this web site under "scholarship". ◊

 


 

Julian Miguel Esteban Habana

 

The Philippines National Little League Baseball Team, defeated Guam 6-5 in the bottom of the 7th inning (Little League only plays 7 innings, as opposed to College and the Pro Level which play 9 innings), to capture the Asia-Pacific Championship, and propelling them to their 3rd consecutive Little League World Series bid. The Little League World Series will be in Bangor, Maine, from August 15 to 22, 2009.  The team was actually down 5-2 in the bottom of the 7th inning, and Julian Miguel ("Miko") Esteban Habana, nephew of Jovie (“Caesar”) Fernandez, drove in the 2 winning runs to make it a Walk-Off victory.  Miko captured the ILLAM ("International Little League Association of Manila") Most Valuable Player Award, and he also won the Asia-Pacific Triple-Crown and MVP Honors (that means he led the Asia-Pacific league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in -  acknowledging him as the best player in the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Japan, Guam, Indonesia, and CNMI (Marianas Islands), as well as this Tournament's MVP!  He is now being evaluated by Major League Baseball scouts from the United States and Japan.  Athletics is not his only forte, as he is among the top of his academic class at Ateneo in the Philippines.

Let us all pray for his success, and the success of Team Philippines, as they represent OUR COUNTRY in the most prestigious Little League International Event of the year! ESPN and/or ESPN2 will be covering the event!   ◊

 

 


 

Natalie Baltazar Lamorena

 

      

        Natalie Baltazar Lamorena, the daughter of Medy and Nelson Lamorena of Vallejo, California won the 2009 California State Championship in Short Track Speedskating - Juvenile Level Division (13-14 years old).  This year's event was held at the Oakland Ice Center on February 14, 2009.  She has been speedskating for two years and trains at the Oakland Ice Rink and Logitech Ice Rink in San Jose.  Prior to taking up speedskating, she was a competitive figure skater and has earned a gold medal in the Moves in the Field for Figure Skating.  She started skating when she was four and a half years old.

 

She is a member of the US Speedskating, the Northern

California Speedskating Association (NCSA),  US Figure Skating, and the St.  Moritz Ice Skating Club (SMISC).

 

Natalie is the granddaughter of Juan & Mary Lamorena and Oscar & Estelita Baltazar.  ◊