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.

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