We are thrilled to introduce to you the 2009 winners of the 826 Valencia Scholarships and Awards. Every year, we are able to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of Bay Area seniors in high school with the help of City Arts and Lectures, which generously sponsors the awards. This year, we received more nominations than ever, and we were blown away by the hard work, creative writing, goals, and ideas of all of the applicants. Read on to learn more about our 2009 Scholars:

Tanea Lunsford, Young Author's Award Recipient
Tanea received our 826 Valencia Young Author's Award this year for her dedication to the literary arts in and out of school. Raised in San Francisco, Tanea is a part of the highly competitive creative writing department at School of the Arts. Her first play, Mama, was a San Francisco Youth Arts first-place winner, and it won the San Francisco Young Playwrights Festival competition. Tanea is also a YMCA volunteer of the year, and she has led writing workshops at a retirement facility and her former elementary school, Sheridan. She is on the selection committee for The Best American Non-Required Reading, for which she meets with other Bay Area high school students once a week at 826 Valencia.

Amanuel Zeryihun, 826 Valencia Scholarship Recipient
Amanuel was born in Ethiopia. When he was one year old, he traveled with his mother and four siblings to reconnect with his father, who had sought political asylum in the United States. He will attend University of California Santa Cruz in the fall, where he recently participated in a workshop for an essay he wrote on African American history. Amanuel attends Lowell High School, where he is involved in many activities and clubs, including varsity football and track and, most actively, the Black Student Union. This spring he had the lead role in a play written, directed, and produced by the BSU for a school-wide assembly. He has also spoken in Youth Speaks forums at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library.

Crystal Pham, Irving Hochman Memorial Scholarship Recipient
Crystal was raised in San Francisco by her mother, whose hard work has inspired her to help those around her in every way she can. Crystal has taken action by becoming a lifeguard at her community pool in North Beach and volunteering as a counselor for the summer camp programs Girls' C.A.M.P. and Younglife. Crystal is a member of AACE Upward Bound, and this year she acted as a junior chaperone on a college tour, facilitating a first glimpse of California colleges for 11th grade students. Crystal attends Galileo Academy, and she will be the first in her family to attend college.

Martin Arellano Martinez, Nathan Jillson Memorial Scholarship Recipient
Martin moved from Mexico three years ago to live with his older brother in San Francisco. He attends Mission High School, where he is a coordinator of the Organization of Latin American Students and a member of the Dance Club. Through Mission Graduates, Martin recently started a program called Outdoor Youth Leadership, for which he will lead middle school students on a wilderness trip to build confidence and experience. With aspirations to become a pathologist, Martin has gotten firsthand experience in the medical field through the UCSF Medlinks Program. The first member of his family to attend college, he will go to San Francisco State University in the fall.