CA Table Grape Growers offers scholarship to farm workers, families, students interested in ag

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The California Table Grape Growers are taking action to help Valley students pursue higher education.

California Table Grape Growers are offering three types of scholarships to graduating high school seniors. These scholarships are for field workers, their families, and students interested in studying agriculture.

For many students, it's the funding they need to make college a reality.

Cal State Bakersfield student Hannah Villaruz still remembers when she got the call she'd been hoping for.

"I was so shocked," said Scholarship Recipient Hannah Villaruz. "I remember this immense feeling of gratitude that came over me."

Hannah is one of the recipients of a California Table Grape Growers scholarship, valued at $25,000.

"I'm so grateful to attend undergraduate without worrying if I can afford another class or a book to get my degree," said Villaruz.

Hannah grew up in a family of farmworkers and attended Caesar Chavez High School in Delano.

"My parents never went to college," Villaruz. "They gave their entire lives to making sure my siblings and I had that stability and that education. They want us to live the American dream."

It's a dream she's now living thanks to this opportunity.

"We like to think that we're not providing them an opportunity to go to college. That's what they did on their own," said Asst. Marketing Director of Content Development Nick Nakashian. "This scholarship is just there to help them achieve it."

There are three different scholarships offered -- two are for farm workers and their families and one is for students, like Isabella Ribeiro, interested in studying ag in college.

"I feel like sometimes, it takes the back burner on things because California has so many other things like the beach and the mountains," said Ribeiro, "but ag is so huge in our state and I want to go into something like ag advertising or ag marketing."

Three of each scholarship type are available for a total of nine. Out of the two farmworker scholarships, one is $14,500 for seniors interested in attending community college. The other one is $25,000 dollars for students interested in a four-year college.

Applications are available here. The deadline is in February.