2017 NAF Scholarship Recipients
Julian Iralu
Undergraduate
Scholarship Recipient
My name is Julian Iralu and I am a sophomore at Barrett the Honors College at Arizona State University. When I was five, I fell in love with the sound of the trumpet and I feel so lucky to be able to study trumpet with Regents Prof. David Hickman. At ASU I have enjoyed playing in many ensembles including the ASU Symphony Orchestra, Wind Orchestra, Concert Jazz Band and Lyric Opera Theatre Pit Orchestra, Trumpet Ensemble, the Aeolus Brass Quintet and the Moxley and Sons Brass Quintet. I have also had the opportunity to attend and play in master classes at the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute, the Masterworks Music Festival and the Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar. You can view a few recordings of my playing on YouTube.
I am very grateful to the Naga American Foundation for this scholarship. I love performing trumpet and sharing music and this scholarship will make it possible to perform more. I plan on using this scholarship money to purchase new solos and to hire a pianist to accompany me as I perform. In the future, I am also hoping to return to Nagaland, this time with my trumpet and make music with talented friends and family in Nagaland. Thank you to everyone who made this scholarship possible!
Vikali Arkha
Graduate
Scholarship Recipient
I remember the day when I held on to the application forms of MA in CMHC (Clinical Mental Health Counseling) in Moody Theological Seminary Chicago, in my hands, telling myself “you need to take the first step of faith”. That little bud of faith blossomed against all odds, to a wonderful testimony of God's provision and faithfulness. That day seem like a distant memory, as I am now in the final year doing my internship II in the MTS Counseling Center. God has been faithful to me even as I juggle life as a student, a wife and a mother of three lovely kids.
I graduated from Delhi School of Economics with MA in Sociology and was pursuing MPhil in JNU when I answered the call to missions along with my husband. It was in the missions, that I discovered my passion for counseling through the many broken lives that God send my way. Today, as I sit face to face with my clients in the Counseling Center, I am reminded to be a channel of God’s healing and hope and to help others work toward wholeness, purpose and live the life they were meant to live. I look forward to the day when I will go back to Nagaland and continue the work that God is preparing and equipping me here for.
Our journey as a family to the US has been a journey of faith. This scholarship is another answered prayer reminding us that God is actively engaged in our lives. Thank you NAF and all those involved in making this scholarship available to us. May the Lord bless you and may He be honored through your extension of love and support to others.