Eleven Loyola Marymount University business students who are the first in their immediate families to attend college will receive part of a $100,000 scholarship grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation.
The grant will provide the students in LMU’s College of Business Administration with individual scholarships of $5,000-$7,500 for the 2017-18 academic year. LMU’s Coca-Cola First-Generation Scholars, who each hold GPAs above 3.0, were honored on Wednesday, Oct. 18, on the Westchester campus.
“This generous grant gives us the opportunity to address the financial needs of qualified and deserving business students,” said Dennis Draper, dean of the College of Business Administration. “We thank The Coca-Cola Foundation for recognizing LMU as an institution that prides itself on diversity and the encouragement of learning for all students, regardless of financial means.”
Draper and LMU Provost Thomas Poon, Ph.D., who both identified as first-generation college students, commended the Coca-Cola scholars at Wednesday’s breakfast reception.
Sophomore Ariana Siordia of Pacoima, a double major in human resources and Asian and Pacific Studies, is among the recipients selected from a pool of more than 40 applicants. “Receiving this scholarship has not only showed me that there was a purpose behind constantly striving for the best results that I can achieve,” she said, “but that all my hard work amassed to something and was not ignored.”
LMU’s other Coca-Cola First-Generation Scholars are: Paxton Andraos, Dana Point; Sharon Gi, Koreatown; Julia Guillen, Corona; Yasaman Kalvakhi, Irvine; Daniel Martin, Inglewood; Shanshan Zhu, Hangzhou, China; Austin Barger, Mill Valley; Lester Leon, Long Beach; Laura Mejia, Hawthorne; and Isabel Gonzalez, San Francisco.
“The Coca-Cola Foundation continues to be an advocate for education and its promise for increased opportunities for young people and their families,” said Helen Smith Price, vice president of global community affairs for the Coca-Cola Co., and president of The Coca-Cola Foundation. “These scholarships complement LMU College of Business Administration’s work to help first-generation college students succeed.”
In addition to offering mentoring to the scholarship recipients through LMU’s First To Go program, the university provides the Coca-Cola First-Generation Scholars and other first-generation scholars with an array of support services as they pursue their education.
Since 1993, The Coca-Cola Foundation has awarded nearly $50 million in Coca-Cola First-Generation Scholarships to more than 4,000 students across 540 U.S. campuses.