CUHS committee awards 5 scholarships

EL CENTRO — Central Union High School honored five students with the CUHS Alumni Scholarship Tuesday evening in the school’s multipurpose room.

Seniors Hannia Lopez, Michelle Gonzalez, Esmeralda Garcia, Alyssa Gonzales, and Dante Barajas students were each awarded a $1,000 scholarship to help reduce their upcoming college expenses.

Gonzalez plans to attend Imperial Valley College this fall and hopes eventually to earn her Ph.D. in psychology to later become a child and family social worker or a child counselor.

“I have never won anything like this before so it was a shock to me,” Gonzalez said. “Right now my plan is to go to IVC and later transfer over to UCSD.”

As a first-generation college student, Gonzalez said she has encountered many struggles through high school, but she knows there are many more yet to come, “My advice to anyone is staying strong no matter what. This scholarship was given to me because of my hardships, so for people like me who encounter many hardships, you just have to keep pushing.”

The selection process began with checking these students’ grades and their involvement within the school. Once that was completed, those who remained were called in for an interview.

To date, the committee has awarded 31 scholarships totaling $41,000 to CUHS graduates.

“We find that staying local within Imperial Valley College and SDSU-Imperial Valley campus, we help more students who are staying in the Valley,” said Nita Mallobox, of the CUHS Alumna Scholarship Committee. “Our goal is to help those that will stay here and spend time helping the community.”

The committee was formed by a group of 1960 CUHS alumni in 2012. The scholarship fund now has $100,000 and continues to grow from donations and interest.

“As a collective body, we believe that academics and opportunity for higher education is one way for students to reach their fullest potential,” said Sedalia Sanders, another committee member. “Each of us (on the committee) have had that opportunity. It’s really a way to give back and show the students how much we value them.”

Alyssa Gonzales will be attending SDSU-IV in an effort to obtain her bachelor’s degree in psychology. Not stopping there, she plans to pursue her master’s in education to eventually become a mathematics teacher.

“We had to get two recommendation from our teachers. It was not hard, but I was shocked when I was selected,” Gonzales said. “It is not that hard of an application, and I plan to use this money toward my books.”