PHOTO: Peninsula College Fund Grants 14 High School Seniors Scholarships

The Peninsula College fund awarded 14 scholarships this week to local students who overcame significant challenges to achieve academic success.

The scholarships were distributed at an awards ceremony held at Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton on Saturday. Scholarship recipients were from many Peninsula towns including Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and Redwood City.

Judge Doris H. Cordell, who is a former Palo Alto Council member, gave the keynote speech. Cordell is the first African-American woman to be a judge for both Municipal and Superior Courts in Northern California.

The Peninsula Scholarship Fund has helped 81 students pay for college so far. 

Carol Melis shares this photo of the scholarship recipients with Patch.

The students are:

(left to right, front row)  Pierre Abdel-Malek, Woodside High School; Alexandra Cota, Sequoia High School; Cristian Diaz, Menlo-Atherton High School; Adrian Esqueda, Sequoia High School.

(left to right, second row) Katherine Garcia, Eastside College Preparatory; Karina Macias, Eastside College Preparatory; Javier Guzman, Sequoia High School, and Yaritza Lara Alvarez, Sequoia High School.

(left to right third row) Diana Lopez Solorzano, Menlo-Atherton High School; Suleyma Garcia, East Palo Alto Academy; Francisco Trejo, Summit Preparatory; and Martin Esquivias, Woodside High School.  

Not pictured:  Yxenia Contreras, Woodside High School and Lauren Longmire, Eastside College Preparatory.

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