RARE Awards 2023 Scholarships

Roosevelt Alumni for Racial Equity (RARE) has awarded the James A Davis Jr Scholarship award to two deserving students of color who will graduate from Roosevelt this June. 

Camila Ricardo and Yuena Kim, seniors at Roosevelt High School, will each receive $5,000 to further their educational studies after high school.  

Meet our agents of change!

Camila Ricardo

“Racial equity means that any person of any racial identity can enter a public or non-public space and not be treated any differently than a white person”

Those are the words of Camila Ricardo, a 2023 James A. Davis Jr. Scholarship winner. That is a very simple statement but a very hard thing to achieve. If anyone can make it happen, we believe Camila Ricardo can. Rarely have we seen a young person who has excelled in so many facets of her life, both academically and in service to others. She is a bilingual honor student who has made the time to volunteer at a food bank, to dive into the world of marine life and ocean conservation as a youth advocate at the Seattle Aquarium, and to work towards developing a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all Roosevelt students as a member of La Raza, the Latino Student Union. These are just a few of her accomplishments to date. She will be the first in her family to attend college and credits her parents for always making education a priority. San Diego State University is where she hopes to further her education by pursuing a degree in Psychology. Our only regret is that she is not old enough to run for president. We’ll just have to wait for that. Congratulations Camila!!

Yuena Kim

“Racial Equity provides us with an opportunity where we may thrive like everyone else.”

Yuena is someone who takes full advantage of opportunities she seeks out. A top-notch student in STEM as well as Arts and Literature, she hopes to study mathematics in college while continuing to act on stage and write creatively. Her leadership as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Group Leader of the Roosevelt drama program helps address the racism that can be present in the material, the characters, and casting of plays. She views her theater work through an equity lens as she participates in all aspects of theater, acting, singing, directing, and tech
work. Outside of school, Yuena writes regularly for Teen Tix focusing her articles on OwnVoices books for social justice. She also shares her love of learning with 2nd graders who are struggling with reading through her tutoring job with Team Read, a Seattle Public Schools program designed to boost skills of disadvantaged youth and those who are learning English. In addition, somehow, she has found time to earn a black belt in TaeKwonDo which connects her to her Korean heritage, and to write her own Korean shamanism-inspired manuscript that she is hoping to get published. RARE is pleased to support Yuena as she pursues her education with thoughtfulness and abundant energy!