The annual Irvington Historical Society’s Pat and John Ryan History Scholarship has been awarded to I.H.S. seniors Mohu Desai, Olivia Liu, and Lavi Ben-Ari. The $1,000 scholarship is awarded each spring to Irvington High School seniors “whose love of history and intellectual achievements in pursuing historical research serve as a model for others.  Selection criteria include the students’ academic performance, the quantity and quality of history and history-related classes taken, the students’ interest in and aptitude for history (this can also be expressed beyond the academic classroom), and an example of historical scholarship.” 

Each applicant must submit a transcript and a letter of interest as well as an example of historical scholarship. Irvington High School Social Studies teacher Chris Barry, Irvington Historical Society’s board member and college professor Neil Maher, and former Irvington High School principal and Society board member Scott Mosenthal serve as judges for the contest.

Olivia Liu’s  essay is entitled, “Forging Identity and Fighting Against Injustice: the 1960’s Chinese Fight for Freedom”. Her thesis: “For well over a hundred years, Chinese immigrants have experienced discrimination and hate in the United States. It was not until the 1960s, when the Chinese found a unifying voice as Asian Americans, that they began to fight back effectively.”

Mohu Desai’s essay is entitled “The Socio-Economic And White Superiority Underpinnings of Japanese American Internment During World War II”.  His thesis is that the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II served as an excuse for the U.S. white majority population and government to assert control over a succeeding minority racial group before the USA’s involvement in World War 2. This was to maintain the power structure of white superiority over Japanese Americans for a multitude of crucial economic and societal reasons, causing grave socio-economic effects on the Japanese internment camp survivors. 

Lavi Ben-Ari’s winning entry is the video documentary currently on display at the McVickar House in combination with the Irvington Gazette exhibit. His film traces the development of the Gazette.