2022-23 Wildflower Fund Recipients
In 2022-23, we distributed $74,000 from the Wildflower Fund (Wildflower Run registrations, corporate sponsorships, and individual donations) in support of education and equity for women and girls. Funds raised were directed to the following:
Provide scholarships to high school girls graduating from Morgan Hill Unified School District (MHUSD) schools.
Some of our 2023 Scholarship recipients helping at the 2023 Wildflower Run
2023 High School Scholarship Recipients
Recipient | High School | College | Field of Study |
---|---|---|---|
Lysette Avila | Live Oak High School | Gavilan College | Ultrasound Tech |
Helen Bui | Live Oak High School | Cal Poly SLO | Embryology |
Danielle Cassidy | Ann Sobrato High School | Loyola Marymount (?) | Psychology |
Iris Chiang | Ann Sobrato High School | USC | Neurosience |
Taylor Chukes | Live Oak High School | SFSU | Linguistics |
Daniela Cruz Valasco | Ann Sobrato High School | San Jose State | Business Administration |
Isabella Fredericks | Live Oak High School | UCSD | Chemical Engineering |
Brenna Graffigna | Central High School | San Jose City College | Ultrasound Tech |
Emily Lopez | Live Oak High School | UCLA | Physical Therapy |
Yaquelin Martinez | Live Oak High School | San Jose State | Computer Engineering |
Rachel Robert | Ann Sobrato High School | USC | Pre-Med |
Provide “Re-Entry” and “Deferred Entry” to local women reentering college after a gap in their education. Recipients may include women who have taken a break during college, women who have taken a break after high school before entering college, and/or women completing their GED at the Morgan Hill Community Adult School and now entering college.
All 2023 Re-Emtry/Deferred Entry scholarships were awarded to Morgan Hill Community Adult School graduates.
L-R: Mellisa Figueroa, Selena Gonzalez, Samantha Jones, Juanita Salinas
2023 Students Receiving Re-Entry / Deferred Entry College Scholarships
Recipient | College | Major or Field of Study | |
---|---|---|---|
Mellisa Figuerca | Gavilan College | Social Work | |
Selena Gonzalez | Gavilan College | Medical Coding Certification | |
Sammantha Jones | Cabrillo College | Education | |
Juanita Salinas | Gavilan College | Administrative Justice |
Provide “Lauren Jenkins Healthcare Profession Scholarships” to college students from the Morgan Hill area who are pursuing a degree in a healthcare profession.
Recipient | College | Major or Field of Study | |
---|---|---|---|
Jazlyn Sanchez | San Jose State | Nursing | |
Nikki Nguyen | San Jose State | Nursing |
Provide supplemental Keeping In Touch (KIT) grants to previous scholarship recipients to support them as they continue in their field of study.
Recipient | College | Major or Field of Study |
---|---|---|
Emilie Allaert | UC Davis | Medicine |
Shirley Antonio Arriaga | San Jose State | Industrial Systems Engineering |
Adriana Arroyo | Gavilan College | Health Science |
Ashlee Atkins | Cuesta College | Agricultural Business |
Kelsey Beard | Northern Arizona University | Psychology |
Sophia Carrillo | Milwaukee School of Engineering | Engineering |
Cleopatra Ellis | Gavilan College | Nursing |
Pamela Frederick | San Jose State | Nursing |
Aliyah Habib | UC Santa Barbara | Political Science |
Hailey Haynes | CSU San Marcos | Nursing |
Hannah Herrick | Cal Poly Ponoma | Botany |
Diya Kandhra | UC Berkeley | Environmental Studies |
Elise Kim | UC Merced | Computer Science |
Janelle Laflin | USC | Health & Human Services |
Shalimar McGinnis | Grossmont College | International Relations |
Madelynne McKenzie | Grand Canyon University | Criminal Justice |
Yessinia Reed | Howard University | Biology and Spanish |
Kassandra Shores | Sonoma State University | Nursing |
Grace Sullivan | UC Davis | Psychology |
Provide a “Fritts Family STEM Scholarship” to college women from Morgan Hill or Gilroy who are already in college and planning to graduate from a 4-year school with a STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) degree.
This is an endowed scholarship providing a $1000 scholarship each year for 10 years. No qualifying recipients were identified last year, so two scholarships were presented in 2023.
Recipient | College | Major or Field of Study | |
---|---|---|---|
Hassti Tirgardoon | Pepperdine University | Biology | |
Lixian Ou | West Valley College | Mathematics |
NEW: Provide two “Judy Kinker Memorial Scholarships”, established in memory of AAUW Morgan Hill member Judy Kinker.
This is an endowed scholarship, with $10,000 provided by Judy’s four daughters and an additional $2,000 by friends. One or two $1000 scholarships will be given each year from this fund while money remains. Recipient selection will be from among students applying in any of the above scholarship categories.
Ria Deshpande, one of the Kinker scholarship recipients, was a member of AAUW’s Young Women Leaders and one of their conference organizers and presenters.
Recipient | College | Major or Field of Study |
---|---|---|
Ria Deshpande | UC Berkeley | Biomedical Engineering |
Taylor Conely | CSU Fullerton | Early Childhood Education |
Provide funding and mentorship for “Young Women Leaders”.
The annual Young Women Leaders Conference, cancelled in 2021 and 2022, was reestablished in 2023. This conference, organized and run by AAUW Morgan Hill’s Young Women Leaders is offered to Morgan Hill teens.
We would like to acknowledge and thank Silicon Valley Clean Energy for their generous grant to assist with conference expenses.
2023 Young Women Leaders’ Conference
Provide Community Action Grants to local non-profit organizations for projects whose goals are consistent with AAUW’s mission.
Students at SVCT’s Matilda the Musical
Community, Family and Senior Health and Wellness Fair
BookSmart Community Advantage’s Gift of Reading
PA Walsh’s Mini Mermaids at the Wildflower Run
Recipient | Project |
---|---|
BookSmart Community Advantage | “The Gift of Reading” |
Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley | TechBridge Girls program at the El Toro Morgan Hill Clubhouse |
Jackson Academy of Math and Music | refresh its campus library books collection |
Morgan Hill Historical Society | living history field trips to Villa Mira Monte |
PA Walsh STEAM Elementary School | Mini Mermaids Running Club |
Poppy Jasper International Film Festival | Women’s Day |
San Martin/Gwinn School | purchase Spanish-language books for the school library |
Senior Advisory Committee at the Morgan Hill Senior Center | Community, Family and Senior Health and Wellness Fair |
South Valley Civic Theatre | “Matilda the Musical” community outreach project |
Sponsor a college student from Morgan Hill to participate in NCCWSL (National Conference for College Women Student Leaders).
NCCWSL is an annual national leadership conference for college women. Funding includes travel expenses plus conference registration.
NCCWSL Chairs, Cinda Meister and Marian Sacco, with recipient Chinazom Ofobuike
Chinazom Ofobuike | Gavilan College | Chinazom’s parents were born in Nigeria of the Igbo tribe and had limited education. She says, “I learned to take everything I do seriously and to put in all my effort to complete tasks.” |
Provide scholarships to send MHUSD Middle School students to Tech Trek, an AAUW-sponsored one week math and science summer camp for middle school girls.
In 2021 and 2022 Tech Trek was a virtual event. This year we were once again able to send students away to camp, and a virtual camp was also offered. Since Stanford University–our usual camp of choice–was not a Tech Trek destination this year, we instead sent 5 campers to Sonoma State, 4 campers to Fresno State, and 2 additional campers to the virtual camp. We were excited to be able to offer the Tech Trek experience to a record 11 students.
2023 Tech Trek campers at the 2023 Wildflower Run
Recipient | School | Camp |
---|---|---|
Caitlyn Amaral | Jackson Academy of Math and Music | Fresno State |
Valeria Castillo | Voices Morgan Hill | Sonoma State |
Samantha Childres | Charter School of Morgan Hill | Fresno State |
Kylie Duley | Martin Murphy | Virtual Camp |
Madison Duley | Martin Murphy | Fresno State |
Isabella Leal | Britton Middle School | Virtual Camp |
Salem Omana | Britton Middle School | Sonoma State |
Uliana Romanova | Charter School of Morgan Hill | Fresno State |
Kaede Salom | Britton Middle School | Sonoma State |
Eloara Sanchez | Jackson Academy of Math and Music | Alternate |
Jyzzellah Sifuentes | San Martin Gwinn | Sonoma State |
Lexi Tillman | Jackson Academy of Math and Music | Alternate |
Sierra Van Holt | Jackson Academy of Math and Music | Sonoma State |
Fund Morgan Hill’s Second Annual Community Earth Day Celebration, organized by AAUW Morgan Hill’s Climate Education and Action Committee.
We would like to thank Silicon Valley Clean Energy for an additional generous grant which defrayed some our event expenses.
—
—
—
—
—
Sponsor a Morgan Hill woman’s participation in the Leadership Morgan Hill class of 2023.
Krisse Boursier | AAUW Morgan Hill branch member |
Underwrite national AAUW priorities. These include graduate fellowships for women, community action grants, pioneering research, public policy advocacy, legal advocacy, and leadership programs.
The $75,000 “Morgan Hill Wildflower Run Research and Projects Grant Endowment” (#4403) was established in 2014 and funding was completed with proceeds from the Wildflower Run in 2019. It now provides funding annually for community action and career development grants.
Rebecca Sosa | Antioch University | Psychology | Working toward dual marriage and family therapy and professional clinical counseling licensure, Sosa hopes to expand mental-health literacy and access within BIPOC and creative communities and destigmatize it across generations and cultures. |
—
Another branch endowment, the $100,000 “Blaine/Cate Endowment for Graduate Fellowships” (#1802) was completed in 2001. It funds an annual graduate or postgraduate fellowship.
Naomi Eigbe | Stanford University | M.S., Symbolic Systems, Computer and information sciences | Eigbe is interested in computationally answering social-psychological, sociological and sociolinguistic questions with statistical and machine-learning methods. She would like to use the answers she finds to develop innovative technology with fruitful social and emotional impacts on society. |
.