Fifty-six students demonstrating community involvement and academic performance will each receive a scholarship toward their higher education through Hilmar Cheese Company’s annual scholarship program. This is Hilmar Cheese Company’s nineteenth year awarding scholarships.
The scholarship program has three categories: children of employees of Hilmar Cheese Company, children of the dairy farm families who ship milk to Hilmar Cheese Company, and students with an agricultural major living in the counties where the company is located. This third category is for students not affiliated with the company; but dedicated to the agricultural industry and living in Merced and Stanislaus counties in California, and Dallam and Hartley counties in Texas. Additionally, this year previous recipients of a producer or employee scholarship very invited to apply for a renewal scholarship and eleven were awarded.
Fifteen children of Hilmar Cheese Company employees will receive a scholarship. Nine graduating high school seniors and six college students were awarded $1,000 include Alissa Paniagua (Delhi High School), Elisabeth Garner (Atwater High School), Haileigh Faria (John H. Pitman High School), Isabelle Buenrostro (Central Valley High School), Sydney Vallier (John H. Pitman High School), Jesse Davis (Dalhart High School), Dalia Martinez (Stratford High School), Alejandra Long (Dalhart High School), Bethany Berngen (Dalhart High School), Abigail Starr (Merced Community College), Jill Reyna-Canales (Fresno Pacific University), Maxwell Lee (Merced College), Eli Roos (University of California Merced), Gracie Alves (Solano Community College), and Louis Alcala (West Texas A&M).
The seven children of the dairy farm families who ship their milk to Hilmar Cheese Company in California to each receive a $1,000 scholarship are Lilianna Garcia (Whitmore Charter High School), Anthony Diniz (Hilmar High School), Shianne Omlin (Modesto High School), Colton Hoekstra (Ripon Christian High School), Avery Oliveira (Hilmar High School), Brielle Prock (Denair High School), and Bernadette Silveira (Merced Junior College).
Merced and Stanislaus counties California agricultural majors M’Lyssa Frago (Livingston High School), Gabriella Lucas (Atwater High School), Emma Menefee (Los Banos High School), Kindall Grisham (Golden Valley High School), Alayna Azevedo (Escalon High School), Cody Batchelor (Buhach Colony High School), Anthony Agueda (Hughson High School), Alyssa Zipser (Waterford High School), Caitlin Elizabeth Van Gorkum (Ripon Christian High School), Elizabeth Gomez-Vega (Turlock High School), Melanie Wolf (Fred C. Beyer High School), Tabitha Xavier (California State University, Fresno), Katelyn Struiksma (Oklahoma State University), and Sidney Miller (California State University, Fresno) were each awarded $500.
Dallam and Hartley counties Texas agricultural majors Emma Lathem (Dalhart High School), Gannon Swecker (Dalhart High School), Jessica Beth Nolt (Dalhart High School), Claudia Taylor (Dalhart High School), and Jordan Smulders (Frank Phillips College) are awarded $500.
Employee children who were awarded Renewal Scholarships of $500 were Ellena Urrutia (University of California, Riverside), Ethan Machado (California State University, Stanislaus), Victoria Marcelino (University of California, Davis), Makayla Fontes (Merced College), and Julia Travis (University of California, Berkeley).Six children of the dairy families who ship milk to Hilmar Cheese Company were also awarded Renewal Scholarships of $500. Congratulations to Tanner Hoekstra (Oklahoma State University), Carter Azevedo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), Catherine Machado (Loyola Marymount University), Alison Bylsma (Azusa Pacific University), Grace Nightengale (Arizona State University), and Jenna Nightengale (University of California, Davis).
The Hilmar Cheese Company scholarship program reflects the company’s ongoing support of higher education and its commitment to employees, dairy farm families, and the California and Texas agricultural industries.
Qualifying students are encouraged to apply November 1 through February 1, 2022. For more information about Hilmar Cheese Company’s scholarship program, visit the About Us section of www.hilmarcheese.com.
