In order to recognize and encourage local university students who demonstrate excellent academic performance with diverse development and a strong commitment to community service, the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation has launched the “For Our Future Scholarship”. This inaugural scholarship received nearly 300 applications from 13 educational institutions. The Scholarship panel judges include: Mr. Daryl NG, Chairman of the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation; Mr. Tommy YUEN, Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau; Professor Lap-Chee TSUI, President and Founding Member of The Hong Kong Academy of Sciences; and Dr. Allan ZEMAN, Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group. The 15 finalists are all high achievers in their studies and are multi-talented. The panel judges were so overwhelmed by the remarkable quality of all 15 finalists that our foundation decided to extend the original number of awards from 10 to 15 to give our encouragement and support to the outstanding university students. Each student will be awarded a scholarship of HK$50,000 to support their academic studies and future development.

Group photo of the “For Our Future Scholarship” Award Presentation Ceremony 2021
(Third row) Scholarship awardees; (Second row) Representatives of academic institutions:
Professor Gillian CHOA, Director of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (Sixth from left);
Dr. Tom FONG, Vice-President (Organisational Development) of the Hang Seng University of
Hong Kong (Fifth from left); Professor Ricky KWOK, Vice President (Students and Support) of
The Open University of Hong Kong (Fifth from right); Professor Suk-Ying WONG,
Associate Vice-President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Fourth from left)
and other representatives from the educational institutions. 

(First row) Mr Daryl NG, Chairman of the Greater Bay Area Homeland
Youth Community Foundation (Sixth from left);
Mr Tommy YUEN, Commissioner for the Development of the
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,
Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau (Fifth from left);
Dr Allan ZEMAN,Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group (Fifth from right);
Mr ZHANG Zhihua, Deputy Director General of Youth Department of the
Liaison Office of the Central People Government in the HKSAR (Fourth from left);
and the Vice-Chairmen of the Foundation:
Mr LAU Ming-Wai,Vice Chairman, Youth Development Commission (Third from left);
Mr Adam KWOK, Executive Director, Sun Hung Kai Properties
and Standing Committee Member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (Fourth from right);
Dr Simon LEE, Director, Bay Area Office, China Resources Group (Third from right);
Mr Alex YEUNG, Executive Director, Emperor Group and Chairman of
Brightway Charitable Foundation (Second from left);
Mr YANG Bin, CEO, Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation (First from left);
Ms Dionne KUNG, Deputy CEO, Greater Bay Area Homeland
Youth Community Foundation (First from right)

The For Our Future Scholarship Award Presentation Ceremony was held at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on March 9. Attending honourable guests include: Mr. Daryl NG, Chairman of the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation; Mr. Tommy YUEN, Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau; Dr. Allan ZEMAN, Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group; Mr. ZHANG Zhihua, Deputy Director General of Youth Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People Government in the HKSAR; Mr. LAU Ming-Wai, Vice Chairman, Youth Development Commission; Mr. Adam KWOK, Executive Director, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Standing Committee Member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; Dr. Simon LEE, Director, Bay Area Office, China Resources Group; Mr. Alex YEUNG, Executive Director, Emperor Group and Chairman of Brightway Charitable Foundation; Professor Gillian CHOA, Director of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; Dr. Tom FONG, Vice-President (Organisational Development) of the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong; Professor Ricky KWOK, Vice President (Students and Support) of The Open University of Hong Kong; Professor Suk-Ying WONG, Associate Vice-President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and other representatives from the educational institutions.

Mr. Daryl NG, Chairman of the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation

Mr. Daryl NG, Chairman of the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation said, “As demonstrated by the excellent performance of the 15 awardees of the For Our Future Scholarship, we can see a promising new generation with boundless talent, energy and social commitment arising. We hope they can contribute to the society and bring Hong Kong a bright and thriving future.”

“Other than the scholarship, the Foundation will organise exchange tours for the awardees to go to mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area, visiting famous universities such as Jinan University, Sun Yat-sen University and South China University of Technology as well as big corporations such as China Resources, Tencent and Da-Jiang Innovations. Other than the awardees, the Foundation will also invite 200 students out of all the award applicants to join the Greater Bay Area experiential tours. We believe the tours will help them better understand and plan their future career development in the Greater Bay Area. In addition, after the resumption of the cross-boundary people flow between Hong Kong and Guangdong, the foundation will organise even more exchange programmes for Hong Kong youth to enhance their understanding and experiences in the Greater Bay Area.” Mr. Daryl NG added.

Mr. Tommy YUEN, Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao
Greater Bay Area, Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau

Mr. Tommy YUEN, Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau and one of the panel judges of the Scholarship said, “The awardees’ academic performance and attitude of giving back to the society are encouraging. Today’s award presentation ceremony is not the end but rather the beginning. The Foundation will arrange Greater Bay Area exchange programmes to help scholarship awardees and applicants to further understand the development of the mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area in terms of innovative technology, art and culture as well as economy. We hope the students can explore the opportunities for employment or entrepreneurship in the Greater Bay Area and create a better future for themselves as the name of the Scholarship indicates.”

Most of the awardees come from ordinary families. Some of their parents are engaged in catering, tourism and decor sectors which are affected by the pandemic. For Our Future Scholarship provides timely assistance to them. Besides, the awardees not only excel in their studies but are also multi-talented. For example, a student in Business Administration is an excellent Pipa player; a Journalism student self-organised a volunteer tour of four and a half months spanning 12 countries. Some have even set up start-ups and make good use of new technologies to actively serve the disadvantaged community.

Perseverance in Study  Serving the Disadvantaged

An awardee who shared her story during the ceremony, Ms. Lindsay Yuen, is a fourth-year student of Social Work at Hong Kong Baptist University. She suffered from leukemia when she was 16. She had to suspend her studies for one year to receive chemotherapy. "It's like the plot of a TV drama. I went through painful chemotherapy treatment, suffering body pain and hair loss. I could hardly walk from side effects of chemo that caused avascular necrosis of pelvis.” She was fortunate to have the support from parents and family members, and grateful for the care from social workers in the hospitals and schools for helping her to apply for disability allowance and support in special educational needs. After she recovered from the illness, she decided to become a social worker to serve students with SEN. "My family and friends gave me boundless support during my chemotherapy, so I realized how important family is to the growth of children. I plan to enroll in family therapy courses to help more people in need. "

Another awardee shared his story is, Mr. Michael YAN, a fifth-year student of Medicine in the University of Hong Kong. He migrated to Hong Kong at the age of 12, with poor English and Cantonese but he studied hard and got into Medical School. During the epidemic, he conducted researches and published papers on the effect of Remdesivir and HIV medicine for the treatment of COVID-19. An experience with deaf-mute people aroused his interest in learning sign language and became and a sign language volunteer. Michael said, “I am grateful for having several mentors in my secondary and university days in helping me to pursue my goals. I hope fellow youngsters can consolidate knowledge, equip themselves and serve the community.”

Two of the awardees Mr Michael YAN (Left) from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong
and Ms Lindsay YUEN (Right) from the Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University,
expressed heartfelt thanks to the Foundation besides sharing their amazing stories.

Other awardees include Ms. Vanessa CHEUNG from Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Mr. Aaden Cheung from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Ms. Erina CHOW from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Ms. Jessie HSEUH from City University of Hong Kong, Ms. Francesca HUI from Open University of Hong Kong, Ms. Rose LAM from Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ms. Chelsea LAU from Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Mr. John LEE from Lingnan University, Ms. Bonnie LEE from Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ms. Cloris SIN from Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Mr. Matthew WONG from University of Hong Kong, Ms. Jodee WU from The Education University of Hong Kong and Ms. Michelle YEUNG from Hong Kong Baptist University.

At the “For Our Future Scholarship” Presentation Ceremony 2021, the Greater Bay Area
Homeland Youth Community Foundation presented scholarships to 15 awardees by
three panel judges includingMr Daryl NG, Chairman of the Greater Bay Area
Homeland Youth Community Foundation (Forth row, fifth from left);
Mr Tommy YUEN, Commissioner for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao
Greater Bay Area, Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau (Third row, fourth from left);
and Dr Allan ZEMAN, Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group (Third row, fourth from right);
Mr ZHANG Zhihua, Deputy Director General of Youth Department of the
Liaison Office of the Central People Government in the HKSAR (Third row, third from left);
and the Vice-Chairmen of the Foundation: Mr LAU Ming-Wai,Vice Chairman,
Youth Development Commission (Third row, second from left);
Mr Adam KWOK, Executive Director, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Standing Committee
Member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political
Consultative Conference (Third row, third from right); Dr Simon LEE, Director,
Bay Area Office, China Resources Group (Third row, second from right); Mr Alex YEUNG, Executive Director,
Emperor Group and Chairman of Brightway Charitable Foundation (Second row, third from left);
Mr YANG Bin, CEO, Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation
(Second row, second from left); Ms Dionne KUNG, Deputy CEO, Greater Bay Area
Homeland Youth Community Foundation (Forth row, First from right)