With the start of the school year upon us, we are excited to announce that the Central National Gottesman Foundation has awarded 17 scholarships to students across North America furthering their education after high school.
Four of this year’s scholarship recipients are bright sons and daughters of individuals from the Kelly Spicers workforce who are pursuing their studies at institutions of higher education. The Foundation also renewed grants previously awarded to Kelly Spicers offspring for the upcoming academic year to Julia Bridges, Dylan Lomas, Jewel Jurisprudencia, Raul Rodriguez, Steven Sanborn, Gwendolyn Tobin, Cyan Granillo and Brooke Larisch.
These scholarships support an important belief of our parent company, Central National Gottesman (CNG): that success is rooted in the power of education.
Help us celebrate these high achieving individuals by getting to know the four new recipients a little better!
Emily Cochrane is from the Bay Area and will be attending University of California, Santa Cruz to major in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Education. After taking a few Afrocentric literature and history courses in high school, she realized her passion for cultural identity and understanding her own Latino history from a new perspective.
Emily was an active member of her student body in high school, playing the oboe and percussion in marching band and serving as co-president of the Smart Environment Club, which focused on ways to improve the school’s sustainability practices. Her dream is to educate others, especially historically marginalized groups, so they can better understand their histories like past educators have done for her.
Outside of school, Emily loves to indulge in reality tv & true crime shows, shopping, hitting the library, and of course, listening to music! Congratulations, Emily!
Conor McMahon is from Pacifica, CA, and is studying Environmental Science at Chaminade University in Honolulu, HI. In high school, Conor was an avid member of the cross country and track teams, and actively volunteered with the Boy Scouts after ranking as an Eagle Scout. Conor is fascinated by watershed science and forest conservation, and plans to spend his career protecting and learning more about our national forests through the US Forest Service.
When he isn’t studying or out on the field, Conor is spending quality time with friends and family or hiking in the great outdoors with his dog. Congratulations, Conor! Well deserved.
Malia Otuhiva grew up in Hayward, CA and is continuing her education at University of California, Los Angeles to pursue a degree in Psychology with a minor in Education Studies. Malia is fascinated with the minds and behaviors of humans, and appreciates that her professors at UCLA encourage discussion about these topics throughout her curriculum.
In high school, Malia played rugby for four years, was President of the Polynesian Club, and realized her passion for activism after being part of a campus social justice leadership team called Solidarity in Action. She hopes to use her degree to help increase school retention rates of low-income minoritized students of color, especially Pacific Islander students.
When Malia isn’t studying, you can find her playing video games like Animal Crossing and watching Anime like One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Hunter x Hunter. Congratulations, Malia!
Jennifer Vela grew up in Los Angeles, CA and will be a first generation college graduate from both sides of her family at California Polytechnic State University, Pomona. She is captivated by the ability to create something that is much larger than herself through architecture, and finds beauty in simple and complex designs throughout history and day-to-day life. Her dream job is to work as a freelance residential architect.
In high school, Jennifer performed in the school choir as a leader, and was also involved in her church as a youth teacher and youth service leader.
You can find Jennifer hitting the gym to work on her personal fitness goals when she isn’t studying. Congratulations, Jennifer! So well deserved.
