FIUTS Scholarship Opportunity: 2023 Betty and Hiro Ogawa Award

Thank you for your interest in the Betty & Hiro Ogawa Award. Applications for 2023 are now closed.

Betty and Hiro Ogawa

Betty Jean Crouch came to the University of Washington in the mid 1960’s to study sociology. While a student and volunteer for FIUTS, she met Hiro Ogawa, a Japanese student studying business, who would later become her husband of more than 46 years. This award was created by Hiro in memory of Betty’s legacy and lifelong commitment to promoting Japan/US relations and building understanding and harmony between our two countries. The Ogawa family continues this award in honor of the importance of building peace and understanding between our two nations.

The Ogawa Award grants one flexible scholarship each year to a University of Washington graduate or undergraduate student from any country in recognition of their work to promote cross-cultural understanding between Japan and the United States through their involvement in FIUTS programs.

Last year’s winner, Rituraj, shared a brief story about his FIUTS story and what winning the Ogawa Award has meant to him:

FIUTS was honestly my saving grace when coming to the University of Washington. Back in September when I was contemplating flying to Seattle from Tokyo, I had a lot of self doubt. COVID was at its peak, I didn’t know if I would make friends or not, I didn’t even know how my roommates would see me. I was not confident at all. However, after attending the embark session and the game nights FIUTS held, they completely shattered every shred of doubt I had. They were extremely welcoming and they were the reason I even made it to Seattle. I proceeded to get closer with the members of FIUTS and even joined the performance committee. I have met amazing people through FIUTS and by coming to Seattle and I am really grateful for FIUTS and the work they do to encourage and support international and domestic students. Fast forward to this year, I joined the FIUTS student board and am the co-chair for the CulturalFest Performance committee and the 75th Anniversary Planning Committee. I am also an ambassador for FIUTS Virtual Program with Journalism students from Mali. Being a part of something so significant really gives me a sense of purpose. There is nothing more satisfying than helping organize events that impact thousands of people while building meaningful relationships and growing closer to the people you love spending time with. I have learned so much about different cultures and people and also found my safe place in FIUTS where I can truly be myself and express myself.

I’m involved in many international student organizations and also frequently attend meetings of the Japanese Student Association here at UW.

Last year, I promoted cultural understanding through music, more specifically, singing Japanese lyrics at the Cultural Fest performance.

Although the song was initially in Korean, I felt that I had to highlights elements of Japanese culture because Japan is so close to my heart. Therefore, I sang a verse in Japanese to not only promote understanding of Japanese culture but also to highlight my roots.

Even though I am not able to perform this year due to being the co-chair of the committee, I am still very much involved in promoting Japan/U.S understanding. I am working on a little venture/project that is a dynamic website for tourism in Japan. I plan to have the project done around August/September 2023. My vision for the website is an informational hub for people who want to either learn about Japan or visit sometime. Using my experience of living there for 17 years, I made a website filled with my know-hows that will allow people to experience Japan different from standard tour guides/government pages. I plan to supplement the website with an instagram page as well and that will be released later on.

I remember sending a letter to the Ogawa family expressing how grateful I was for this award. I was born and raised in Tokyo all my life, so Japan and Japanese culture will always hold a very special place in my heart. Therefore, winning this award meant a lot especially because I got the opportunity to represent a culture that shaped a good part of my identity through FIUTS. I would love to get the opportunity to meet Andrew Ogawa if I have the chance.

Last year’s Ogawa Award Winner, Rituraj.