Passion for Bugs Nets Boy, 14, $10,000 Award

James Fujita, 14-year-old Oxnard resident and local entomologist, has received a $10,000 scholarship to be used at any accredited educational institution after graduation from high school.

James and five other young students were selected for Kids’ Hall of Fame awards in a nationwide contest sponsored by National Geographic World magazine and Pizza Hut.

More than 1,000 children entered the annual contest, and the field was finally narrowed down from 12 finalists to only six winners.

James impressed the judges with his passion for entomology as well as his desire to share his knowledge and impressive bug collection with his peers, said Halsey Spruance, spokesman for the National Geographic Society.

“It makes me feel good to see other people learning and having fun,” James said at the induction ceremony on Thursday in Washington, D.C.

“It makes me happy making other people happy. It makes me happy that I taught them something and gave them some enjoyment.”

The young man began collecting bugs at the age of 3 and was named the 1993 Young Entomologist of the Year by the Los Angeles chapter of the international Lorquin Entomological Society.

He has given more than 230 presentations to schools and museums.

He has also worked with the Insect Zoo of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum and has documented insects for the states of Arizona and California.

Not only an avid collector and studier of bugs, James also helped a terminally ill cancer patient receive one of her last wishes.

In June, James met with Takae Tsuchida, an 8-year-old Japanese girl whose last wish was to see and play with the boy’s collection of rare bugs.