At the 2008 Conference, our SOCAL organization honored two students with $750 scholarships for their academic excellence as well as their significant contributions to their local sister cities. One of the winners, Liwen Tsai, attended with both of her parents. Liwen is currently a senior at UCLA where she is majoring in Business Economics with a minor in Chinese studies. She has worked as an intern for the Long Beach Qingdao Sister Cities Association, providing updates to the LBQA's website and online blog. She has also used her writing skills to craft speeches for the president of LBQA, Wendy Chou, as well as preparing official letters in Chinese for the Foreign Affairs Bureau of Qingdao city. After graduation, Liwen plans on working full time for PriceWaterhouse Coopers, working for the firm's Chinese Business group.

The other winner, Paula Gerhold, was unable to attend because she was attending San Francisco State. Her parents were also unable to attend because they were helping Paula's younger sister at an academic decathlon the same day. In her local community of Bakersfield, Paula served as a Sister Cities Youth Connection representative at Lincoln High School for three years. During that time, she participated in community service projects sponsored by the club and hosted students from Wakayama, Japan, sister city of Bakersfield. Her visit to Wakayama in the summer of 2005 motivated her to major in Japanese. Now in her third year of college, she is able to converse in Japanese.