APTOS—Community Foundation Santa Cruz County awarded scholarships to 11 local students, the organization announced July 10.
Pajaro Valley High School students Reyna Ponce (Barbara J. Thompson Scholarship), Omar Salazar (Emmett and Elsie Geiser Scholarship), Brianna Melgoza-Ortiz (Hank Garcia Jr. and Family Scholarship), Adam Tangonan (Hank Garcia Jr. and Family Scholarship) and Ulises Lobato (John L. Turner Scholarship) all walked away with scholarships.
From Aptos High School, Colby Gonzalez (Emmett and Elsie Geiser Scholarship), Jacob Sandler (Emmett and Elsie Geiser Scholarship) and Jared Kaiser (Hank Garcia Jr. and Family Scholarship) earned scholarships.
Watsonville High School’s Luz Lopez-Reyes (Hank Garcia Jr. and Family Scholarship), Vianey Villanueva-Vega (Hank Garcia Jr. and Family Scholarship) and Belen Vargas Abarca (Simunovich Family Agricultural Scholarship) were awarded scholarships.
“Our scholarship donors never would have predicted a global pandemic or it’s terrible economic ramifications. Yet, in the midst of these extraordinarily challenging times, the gift of supporting education for the next generation is even more important,” said Foundation CEO Susan True. “As we celebrate the scholastic excellence of our award recipients, we also honor the power of these donors and their foresight to create endowed funds to enable scholarships in this pandemic—and forever.”
