Lusitano Club offers two $1,000 scholarship grants each year towards a trade school or college tuition for current Lusitano Club members ages 18 and over. Applications for the school year 2024-2025 are now available. Email lusitanoclubusa@gmail.com to apply. Deadline is July 31, 2024.
Congratulations to Morgan Casey, recipient of our 2024-2025 Lusitano Scholarship Grant, and Thank you for sharing your story!
When I tell my friends that I am Macanese, it always lends itself to a long conversation of where Macau is and how it is such a unique melting pot of people from Europe and Asia. I am proud to be Macanese and, while I haven’t been to Macau yet, my grandfather has shared many stories with me about his time growing up there and the friendships that he keeps to this day. In fact, these conversations about Macau (and Hong Kong) are what sparked my interest in history and helped me view the world with a broader lens. I am thankful that my family has kept their Macanese traditions alive throughout my upbringing.
My grandparents, Roberto João and Margaret De Graça, have been actively involved in the Macanese community for almost 40 years and have made meaningful, lasting contributions to the preservation of the culture. My grandfather has held leadership positions in Macanese cultural organizations and dedicated countless hours of his time to support the community. For example, he served as President of the Concord and East Bay Chapters of União Macanese Americana (UMA) as well as the VP and director of the overall organization, which had over 500 members at the time. He was also a member of the committee that approved the purchase of the Macau Cultural Center in Fremont. Afterwards, he stayed involved by helping write the bylaws, soliciting donations for the remodel, and personally donated $10,000 for the windows of the building. As a respected member of the community, my grandfather represented the Macanese when the President of Portugal came to the Bay Area. Similarly, at the request of Lusitano, my grandparents were interviewed by a UC Berkeley professor about Macanese history and culture. Of all the organizations they have belonged to over the years, their association with the Macanese community is what they value the most; in fact, my grandparents still keep in contact with Macanese friends from all over the world, including Portugal, Spain, England, Brazil, Canada, and Australia. My aunt Sylv ia De Graça Ferras cared for many Macanese senior citizens in San Francisco, and my grandfather’s uncle, Alberto Xavier, helped the Macanese people settle and find jobs in Hong Kong after World War II. Specifically with Lusitano, my aunt and godmother Annie Puska, sister Emma Casey, and great Uncle Rick De Graça have all served on the Lusitano Board. Aunty Annie became involved after she reconnected with the Macanese community through the Encontro trip, and I hope to experience Encontro one day too. My family and I have also enjoyed celebrating our heritage at Lusitano events such as the annual picnic, Dia de Portugal Festival, Christmas party and more.
To ensure that my siblings and I continue Macanese traditions, my family encourages us to learn about the Macanese people and culture. My brother, Connor, attended the Luso-American Cultural Summer Camp and enjoyed meeting friends with similar upbringings. He especially loved playing soccer with them and sharing his passion for Portugal football. My sister, Emma, loves history and reading, and so my parents and grandparents have shared with her many books about Macau: her favorites are those written by Antonio Jorge da Silva and Jim da Silva. She also spends time on the Macanese family website and has visited the Portuguese Historical Museum in San Jose. For me, I love to cook and enjoy discovering new recipes from the Lusitano bulletin. The next recipe I plan to try is Bebinca de Leite, a Macanese dessert. I also like making (and eating) Minchi and Mochiko. Being able to cook authentic Macanese meals for the people I love helps me foster a deeper connection to my culture that I will forever cherish. I hope to attend a Lusitano cooking class in the future to learn more recipes! The youth, like myself, are so fortunate to have the older generations provide all these opportunities to us. Finally, as I begin my studies at the University of Notre Dame, I am excited to take classes in Portuguese Studies.
I have chosen to attend Notre Dame as I want to be surrounded with students with similar values, especially a commitment to their Catholic faith. I am a confirmed Catholic who sings in the church choir and have served as a greeter, Youth Group volunteer and camp counselor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Walnut Creek. I appreciate that the teens I meet at Macanese gatherings are Catholic and that we share the values of faith and family – something which has become more rare in my local community. At Notre Dame, I hope to find other Macanese students and foster community with them and the Lusitano organization.
I am proud to be Macanese and look forward to passing on the traditions and stories of the Macanese people to my children and grandchildren, like my family did with me. It’s such an important part of our family history and heritage.
Thank you for considering me for the Lusitano Club of California scholarship grant. I would be honored to receive it.