California Bonsai Society is proud to announce The Ben Oki Bonsai Scholarship Fund.
The California Bonsai Society (CBS) has set up a scholarship fund to honor Ben Oki - a man who devoted most of his life to enjoying and sharing bonsai. Ben was happiest when he shared his knowledge or worked on a tree. To honor that sharing spirit Ben had, we will be making two $1000.00 grants available to anyone in the bonsai community to be used to attend classes, workshops, study with a pro, or other bonsai-related educational activities. The winners will also need to do something to give back to the bonsai community- such as a club demo or online video showing what you learned or some other method of giving back to the community.
To apply, the applicant should send an email to:
CaliforniaBonsaiSociety123@earthlink.net
In that email, they should explain what they intend to do with the money to improve their bonsai skills and what they intend to do to give back to the bonsai community. Be creative.
Applicants who receive scholarships agree that in return for these funds, within 15 days of completing class, etc., they will provide CBS photos and a short write-up of what they did with the funds to improve their bonsai skills that will be published on our website and in our newsletter. They will also have to come up with and complete a way of giving back to the community and commit to doing this.
The application period will be annually from May 1st through May 30th, with the scholarships awarded on June 15th. Applications will be accepted by anyone in the bonsai community who can deposit a US bank check. Awarding the scholarships will be by decision of a committee of California Bonsai Society Board members after going through all applicants. All committee decisions are final.
Everyone in the bonsai community is encouraged to apply for this chance to expand their bonsai knowledge and to help contribute to the bonsai community.
Anyone interested in contributing to the scholarship fund to honor Ben and help promote bonsai is more than welcome to contact Robert Pressler -President of The California Bonsai Society, at the above email. We are a privately funded 501c3 corporation, so that any contributions may be tax-deductible.