March 2, 2007

CCOC students earn Grove Foundation Scholarships

Twenty-six Central County Occupational Center students will receive a $4,000 Grove Foundation School-to-Career Scholarship to spend on tuition, books and related educational expenses. This is the second year that CCOC students have been eligible for the scholarship.

For some students, the Grove Scholarship means they will be able to focus on school instead of needing to work full-time and attend college full-time.

“College is very important to me as it is important to have a good education so that I can live a comfortable life,” CCOC AutoCAD student and Silver Creek High School Student, Jacqueline Aviles said. “It would have been very hard for me to attend college without this scholarship.”

CCOC is one of 10 high schools in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties that are eligible to participate in the Grove Scholarship program. CCOC--a unit of MetroED--provides career-technical education for 32 high schools in six Silicon Valley school districts: Campbell Union High School District, East Side Union High School District, Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, Milpitas Unified School District, San Jose Unified School District and Santa Clara Unified School District. Students attend CCOC for half of their school day and their own high school the other half of the day.

The Grove Foundation received 208 applications from eligible schools in the San Jose area. Out of that, 113 students were awarded scholarships with CCOC having more winners than any other San Jose area school, Jaime Kemmer, Program Associate for the Grove Foundation, said. Nearly half of all the applications were for the field of nursing, followed by administration of justice, and automotive technology.

While in college, Grove Scholars must maintain a minimum 2.5 grade point average, take a full course load, attend Grove Scholars events and program offerings, and stay in their career program. Students may also receive an additional $500 if they work in a career-related program while they are in college.

Former Intel Chairman and CEO Andy Grove and his wife Eva founded the Grove Foundation in 1998 in order to give students an opportunity to achieve their focused career goal in careers such as automotive technicians, paralegals, nurses, accounting and medical assisting. The scholarships are limited to students who will attend Cabrillo College, Evergreen Valley College, San Jose City College or Heald College to earn their career-focused two-year associates degree or technical certificate.

CCOC Grove Scholars include juniors: Michelle Bauzon from Independence High School, Christopher Cooley from Santa Clara High School, Marla Leon from Yerba Buena High School, Jessica Lynn Perez and Omar Garcia from Lincoln High School, Sanela Nasufovic from Prospect High School, My Nguyen from Oak Grove High School, and Anneliese Raap, from Los Gatos High School. Seniors include: Jacqueline Aviles from Silver Creek High School, Ivania Caraves from Santa Teresa High School, Benalyn Copon from Independence High School, Simrat Kaur from Milpitas High School, Duramany Morsay from Independence High School, Stasia Wong from Milpitas High School, Vanessa Cortez from Leland High School, Cleopatra Dorsey from Calaveras High School, Tatjana Pantic from Prospect High School, Azucena Velez from Foothill High School, and Shalanda Walker from Mt. Pleasant High School.

MetroED is the largest career-oriented educational organization in Santa Clara County, comprised of high school and adult occupational, academic and community programs.