Robles chosen as Edison scholar, receives $40,000 scholarship
Harmony Magnet Academy senior Ariana Robles is among 30 high school seniors who have been named as 2021 Southern California Edison Scholars.
Each of the 30 seniors will receive a $40,000 scholarship totaling $1.2 million. The scholarship is paid over four years.
Edison International provides the scholarships to students who are pursuing science, technology, engineering or math, STEM, studies.
“The Edison Scholars class of 2021 is outstanding,” said Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International. “They are navigating school, leading organizations and securing internships, often while balancing jobs. That’s difficult in any environment, let alone a pandemic. We are so proud to help these students pursue their STEM dreams.”
Robles plans to major in civil engineering and plans to either attend UC Berkeley or USC. She plans to study civil engineering and environmental science with a goal of designing affordable zeronet-energy homes. She’s also an assistant dance teacher at a local studio
and a first-place winner of the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) escape room competition.
“With the assistance of this SCE scholarship I will be one giant step closer to advancing my education in order to create affordable ways to build zero-net-energy homes,” Robles said.
She talked about the climate change that is caused by the CO2 that’s produced through the fossil fuels that are burned that “power our lives.”
Robles said zero-net energy homes comes with many economic and energy benefits because
all of their energy is created at their site through renewable energy sources. “But they tend to be less accessible because of the high cost of construction,” she said.
“The more zero-netenergy structures that we have in our community the more that we can push towards to the clean energy-powered world and lessen the negative impact we’ve been leaving on our planet for far too long now.”
As a sophomore Robles was chosen for a twoyear internship to participate in Bright Energy 101’s energy conservation project designed to make Harmony Magnet Academy more energy efficient. The goal of the project was to reduce energy costs by $240,000 and to reduce greenhouse emissions by eight percent.
“We were able to surpass our goals,” Robles said. In just one year, energy costs were reduced by $320,000 and greenhouse emission were reduced by 13 percent.
Since 2006, more than $12 million in scholarships have been awarded to 700 high school seniors through the Edison Scholars Program.
The Edison Scholars Program is funded entirely by Edison International shareholders. SCE customers’ utility bill payments don’t fund company donations.
All 30 Edison scholars will be celebrated in a virtual reception on May 21.