2022 Commencement Honors Local Students From Costa Mesa, Monrovia, Pasadena and San Gabriel

(L-R) Christal Parker, Hunter Davis, Logan Davis, CM Felicia Williams, Steven Li, Devan Kelly, Logan Kelly, Stefan Kelly (Photo – Emma Newhall)

At the historic La Casita Del Arroyo, Project Talent Launch (PTL) celebrated their progress in their second year, awarding nearly $50,000 in internships to local students.

By Jonathan Ong

PTL is a student-run and student-founded nonprofit aiming to provide internships to high school students. Internship sponsors, school administrators, and donors gathered to honor the PTL Scholars on Friday, August 5, 2022.

During the commencement, the PTL team and PTL recipients reflected on PTL’s growth and the positive impact it has had on student’s lives. In the past few months, they have tripled the number of internships they offered in 2021.

This year several local organizations and individuals sponsored high school internship opportunities:

• Idealab
• Asain American Professional Association (AAPA)
• Visible Intellect
• Councilmember Felicia Williams
• The Dragon Kim Foundation

At the commencement, guests got to hear from Councilmember Felicia Williams and past PTL recipients, ending off with a word from some of the 2022 PTL Scholars.

Ryan Galan Castellanos, a graduate of Gabrielino High School, had a facilities internship with technology incubator Idealab. With this experience and his PTL Scholarship, he is excited to major in environmental engineering at PCC.

Logan Davis, a graduate of Marshall Fundamental in Pasadena, is the 2022 PTL Scholar interning with Councilmember Felicia Williams. He will be heading to Cal State Northridge this fall on a track scholarship. During his internship, Logan worked on a research project to improve constituent responsiveness.

Summer Yang, a current student at Monrovia High School, is working with the Asian American Professional Association. She is helping with nonprofit event planning and is actively learning how to conduct social media outreach at AAPA.

Fnu Anu, a current student from Costa Mesa High School, is working with Visible Intellect, a security company in Orange County. She is programming and documenting devices, advancing her interest in computer science.

Dragon Kim Foundation (L-R) Henry Morita, Fnu Anu, Rafael Garnica, Steven Li, Liam De Villa Bourke, Grace Tsai, Daniel Kim (Photo – Emma Newhall)

PTL team (L-R) David Lara, Streak Honey, Julia Li, Steven Li, Parmida Amjadi, Edward Lee (Photo – Emma Newhall)

Events Coordinator, Jonathan Ong, is a PUSD graduate and an incoming USC student. He’s passionate about swimming, social justice and preserving the environment.