SoCalGas has announced that they will award 25 Central and Southern California students with funds for college through their 2022 SoCalGas Scholarship Program. For the first time, the utility has partnered with Scholarship America® to provide multiyear scholarships for students studying science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), accounting, or finance.
Scholarships are eligible for renewal for the next three years totaling over $300,000 in available funds.
“Our youth are the driving force of the future. Our scholarship aims to nurture this group and help build the important foundation that will help prepare them for professional opportunities and higher education.” SoCalGas vice president of communications, the local government and community affairs Andy Carrasco said, “We understand that rising educational costs can be stressful, and we want to help alleviate those worries as much as possible to allow our students a brighter future.”
One of the students awarded funding from the scholarship program was Matthew Torres, a future Stanford attendee.
“I was already searching for scholarships when I came across the SoCalGas scholarship,” Torres said. “I looked into it and saw that I qualified for it, so I took the chance and put an application in.”
Torres is interested in pursuing a degree in Management Science and Engineering with a minor in statistics at Stanford. He is currently deciding between working in the corporate, tech, or sports agency world.
“I have always been interested in engineering, business, public policy, and marketing,” he said.
While Torres is excited to attend Stanford, it was not his first choice, as he originally planned to attend USC.
“The scholarship played a role,” he said. “I’m changing schools because, at one point, my dream school was USC, but Stanford gave me a better offer financially. The scholarship eliminated the need for me to work during the semester. This freed me up to solely focus on my studies and internship opportunities.”
Torres encourages future students to apply for the SoCalGas scholarship as it impacted his decision for which college to further his education.
“I think financial aid for many students is a roadblock from them attending the colleges they want, but SoCalGas has bridged that gap for me with their generous scholarship.”
The SoCalGas Scholarship Program is part of the company’s ASPIRE 2045 sustainability goals to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and the communities it serves, including a commitment to invest $50 million to drive positive change in diverse and underserved communities over the next five years.
