Investing in the Future: Record 75 Westmont Students Receive Local Scholarships

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara held its annual scholarship award ceremonies awarding $8.4 million in scholarships to 2,300 students, including a record 75 Westmont students, at the Sunken Gardens at Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

Jose Olvera, financial aid and advising programs coordinator for the foundation, says the partnership, including Westmont hosting the annual Affording Your College Dream event, has been instrumental in helping students complete college applications and maintaining scholarships. 

“Westmont has been generous by providing its campus for our annual counselor breakfast events, and being a great partner year-round, promoting our programs and sharing our financial aid resources with the community,” he said. 

Westmont senior Ethan Camp, who is majoring in business and economics, was at the event to receive a scholarship through the South Coast Business and Technology Awards. He plans on leveraging his degree and EMT certification to contribute to local policy or management within the business sector. “I want to stay close to Santa Barbara, the community that's supported me my whole life,” he said. 

Daniel Serrano, an incoming freshman and the first generation in his family to pursue higher education, wants to study nursing at Westmont. “When I was injured at a young age, I really admired how compassionate the nurses were and how helpful they were,” he says. “And ever since then, I wanted to do something along those lines, and give back.” He values the scholarships from the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, which helps alleviate financial burdens and allow him to focus fully on his education. 

Brianna Torres and Ashley Garcia, both first-year students from the San Marcos Health Careers Academy, share a passion for healthcare and helping people. Torres plans to major in biology with an interest in the fast-track nursing program to become a nurse practitioner. “I love helping people, I love healthcare, and I like doing the clinical tasks,” Torres said.  She received the Malcolm and Louise Archibald Memorial Scholarship and the Dr. William E. Sanson Memorial Scholarship. “We have a big family and college wasn't a priority, but now it can be,” she said. 

Garcia intends to major in kinesiology and then pursue nursing, aiming to specialize in oncology. She received the Roy and Thelma Pitts Foundation scholarship, which will alleviate financial stress for her parents.

Incoming freshman Gianna “GiGi” Hernandez, another San Marcos graduate, is excited about pursuing kinesiology for pre-nursing at Westmont. “I've always had a love for helping people, and there are a lot of nurses that run through my family,” she said. Hernandez was also the first student-athlete to commit to Westmont’s new STUNT team as a member of the main base and a tumbler. “I throw people up in the air and make sure they get caught, and then I also just do a lot of flips and stuff. It's so fun,” she says. 

The foundation has been providing scholarships and financially resources for 64 years, giving more than $167 million to about 66,000 students countywide. A recent study with UC Santa Barbara from the class of 2017 showed that 92% of the foundation’s scholarship recipients graduated within six years, far above the national average of 62%. “Our recipients are not only going to college, but graduating and coming back to make this community a better place,” Olvera says.