Reinvent Stockton Foundation’s program “Stockton Scholars” has declared that their scholarship opportunities will stretch beyond high school seniors to all high school students in the Stockton area and nearby school districts such as Lincoln, Lodi, and Manteca planning to attend any college. It was previously limited for seniors planning to attend a UC or private colleges such as Stanford or USC.
“We are opening up the scholarship. It will be available to any student attending a public high school in Stockton regardless of district, so we are very excited to expand opportunities and resources for young people here in Stockton,” said Janae Aptaker, Director of the Stockton Scholars program.
During the Stockton Scholars Expansion Press Conference, Delta’s Superintendent and President, Dr. Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson expressed her joy about the program partnering with Delta. “On behalf of the college (Delta College), we are thrilled to continue the MOU(memorandum of understanding) with Stockton Scholars and expanding this opportunity for our students, it is wonderful for members of our community to expand their opportunities to be here at Delta College and other regional colleges,”
The expansion guarantees students throughout the area will have the opportunities for scholarships to chase a higher education. Students who have applied and completed the process will acquire the scholarship money to use for a two-year college, a four-year college or university in California, and even to attend Historically Black Colleges (HBCU).
Delta’s Vice President of Student Services, Dr. Lonita Cordova supports the cause as she believes these scholarship chances can help and change lives for Delta College students.
“Stockton Scholars has provided over three hundred thousand dollars in scholarships to San Joaquin Delta College students in two short years of their program existence, so what we want to do is to continue that, grow it, expand it in whatever ways we can, and partner and support in whatever we can because we know that we are open access, that education transforms lives…for many of our students’ vocational positions, Teach For America’s apprenticeship programs all of those things are what are going to change our students to be able to be functioning members of society as well as being good human being hopefully and understanding the importance of the community.” said Cordova
The window to apply for the Stockton Scholars program has been open since Oct. 15 and will close on March 2, 2022. The criteria for eligibility to apply is to be a graduate or a soon-to-be graduate of any public high school in Stockton, with a minimum high school GPA of 2.0, Completed the FASFA or DREAM ACT application, and be enrolled full-time at a non-profit college, university or trade school in the state of California, or an HBCU.