American Association of University Women Santa Fe May Fund Scholarship
Feb. 27, 2019 – Submitted by Lynn Heffron, President
The American Association of University Women Santa Fe is awarding scholarships this spring for up to 4 senior girls graduating from Santa Fe High School. The award is $2,000 and a student can re-apply for up to 4 consecutive years. A young woman getting an Associate’s degree would get $4,000 total and one getting a Bachelor’s would get $8,000 total. Our goal is to not only encourage young women in our community to pursue higher education, but to persist and get a degree.
2019 was AAUW SF’s first year awarding scholarships, thus the Board decided SFHS was the right place to start since President Lynn Heffron had been recruiting and training volunteer tutors there for 5 years. Principal Carl Marano, school counselors, and the Career Placement Office publicized this opportunity.
Regarding our May Fund Scholars here are some fun facts about those in their second and third year of higher education as well as those in their first year of higher education from Capital High School.
Santa Fe High School Graduates now in Year 3 of Higher Education:
Ariel Leyba at SFCC is completing an Associates Degree in Psychology
Maggie Goeller now at Western Carolina University (after 2 years at UNM) is working toward a BA in Biology with an emphasis on Ecology and Evolution
Allyson Mullings at UNM working toward a BA in Criminology.
Arrika Duran at NM TECH working toward a BS in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Math
Capital High School Graduates in Year 1 of Higher Education
Franceska Illinea G. Legaspi is attending the University of Portland.
Louisiana Caraveo Castillo is attending the University of New Mexico.
Tanya Ruiz Parra is attending the University of Denver.
Iris Fonseca is attending the University of New Mexico.
Alexandra Mendoza is attending Johns Hopkins University.
Nataly Cruz is attending the University of New Mexico.
The Philip F. May SFCC Associate’s Degree Scholarship is an award of $1,000 per semester of full-time enrollment at Santa Fe Community College (SFCC). Scholarship recipients can reapply each subsequent and consecutive semester for an additional $1,000 if they meet all scholarship criteria, for a maximum award of $4,000.
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic we were not able to launch this program in the Fall of 2020 or last Spring. Given the unusual and extreme circumstance students face right now we elected to begin this pilot program mid-year and to make the applications available to to female graduates of Capital High School currently enrolled at Santa Fe Community College or beginning their first semester at SFCC in the Spring semester of 2021. Capital High School is the school the Committee has identified for this year’s scholarships for female seniors graduating May 2021 and going on to higher education at a school of their choice.
The Committee has awarded the first Philip F. May SFCC Associate’s Degree Scholarships to Evelin Delgado and Melanie Jaime. Delgado is majoring in Biological Sciences and has a current GPA of 3.49. She is the first member of her family to attend college and is interested in Veterinary medicine. Jaime is also the first of her family to attend college. She is studying to become a nurse (a life-long dream) and has published an essay in the Santa Fe New Mexican based on her advocacy for teen parents. Her current GPA is 3.26.
SFCC Associate Degree Scholarship Recipients
now in Year 2 of Higher Education
Melanie Michell Jamie is working toward an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Allied Health
Evelin Naylea Delgado is working toward an Associate of Science Degree in Biological Sciences
Questions about either of these scholarships may be referred to Philip F. May Fund Chair Mickey Bond at mickeybond505@aol.com.