Lea este artículo en español aquí.
Kenia Lopez of Hollister has been awarded a $1,500 renewable scholarship from Taylor Farms. She is one of 37 recipients in a program for children of employees, which gave more than $600,000 in awards this year and has given more than $4.1 million since its inception.
Lopez, who graduated from Hollister High School in 2023, will use the money to attend a community college.
Her father, Taylor Farms machinist Joaquin Lopez, heard about the scholarship from a co-worker and encouraged her to apply.
“He told my father that it would be helpful for me,” she said. “I needed to save up money because my family wouldn’t be able to cover the entire cost of tuition for me to go to a university, but I can keep this money in a savings account and add more money as I keep working.”
Lopez qualified for an “Innovation Scholarship” and received one of five awarded this year. The initial $1,500 scholarship can be renewed for one year if she maintains good academic standing and completes five hours of job shadowing at a Taylor Farms location.
Lopez said that dealing with the pandemic while going to school hurt her grades somewhat, but she always tried to do her best in her classes.
“My grades were not all A’s, she said. “That was a very difficult time for me, and I kept getting migraines. But I took a lot of AP classes and pushed myself, getting mostly A’s and B’s.”
Lopez plans to eventually attend either UC Santa Cruz or San Jose State, where she intends to study speech pathology while pursuing a liberal arts degree. Her interest stems from having two younger sisters who have autism.
“The older one speaks very well and can express herself well,” she said. “But my younger sister is three and isn’t talking like a three-year-old should. Speech has always been an interest of mine, and I want to be able to help kids like my sister if I can.“
Taylor Farms offers three tiers of scholarships each year, including the Innovation Scholarship. The Employee Scholarship is limited to full-time Taylor Farms employees who receive $2,500, renewable for three years. The Extraordinary Scholarship is awarded to 20 students who receive $7,500, renewable for five years. Applicants for the Extraordinary or Innovative scholarships must be children of full-time Taylor Farms employees.
“I’m really thankful for having my scholarship,” Lopez said. “I guarantee that it will be put to really great use. And I am grateful that Taylor Farms has been nothing but very helpful for my dad. Everyone is very nice to him, and he feels it is a great work environment.”
Taylor Farms sponsors BenitoLink’s intern program.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. It is expensive to produce local news and community support is what keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service, nonprofit news.
