Gilroy High School senior Angela Amerson shows off a scholarship she received at the Cal-SOAP awards Wednesday night.
Despite budget setbacks, the California Student Opportunity and Access Program this year nearly doubled the amount of scholarships it gave out to help students pay for college.
Thanks to a grant from the College Access Foundation, the program - known as Cal-SOAP - distributed $161,000 to about 90 students from south Santa Clara and San Benito counties Wednesday night and for the first time gave out renewal scholarships to college freshman and sophomores, said Cal-SOAP Director Erin Gemar.
Dozens of students left the ceremony with up to $5,000 to help cushion the cost of college tuition.
"Every little bit counts," said Madelein Morales, a sophomore studying sociology and women's studies at Saint Mary's College of California who received $2,500. "It's one less loan I have to take out so this is a blessing."
The financial aid will help students who may not otherwise be able to afford college, students said. Cal-SOAP students agreed that the program's one-on-one attention plus the scholarship opportunities motivated them to join Cal-SOAP.
"You're not just another number," said Yesenia Velasquez, a Gilroy High School senior who was one of six students to receive $5,000 scholarships. She will attend University of California, Los Angeles to study political science. If not for a Cal-SOAP trip to UCLA, she probably wouldn't have applied.
The 30th anniversary ceremony also celebrated Jan Bergkamp, a parent volunteer at Live Oak High School who is in charge of the school's scholarship program, and Jeanie Churchill, a Cal-SOAP site representative at San Benito High School. About 320 of the high school's approximately 2,500 students are Cal-SOAP students.
Although Cal-SOAP lost three counselors last year due to budget cuts, Gemar said this year and next are funded by a federal grant, "so it's nice to celebrate without tears and uncertainty about whether we'll be here in the fall. Right now, we feel really strong."
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