Girls Inc. of Carpinteria’s Annual Scholarship Awards
Girls Inc. of Carpinteria’s annual awards event, Fuel Her Fire (formerly titled ‘Women of Inspiration’), was held on Thursday, April 4, at their Carpinteria campus gym. Over 200 people joined to congratulate the scholarship winners and the local honorees.
The scholarship awards are presented to girls who are members of the local organization and have shown to be the best representatives of the Girls Inc. mission to be “strong, smart, and bold.”
This year’s high school level scholarships went to Jessie Marquez, Natalie Martinez, Alejandra Lira Cardona,and Lizbeth Alpizar Farfan. The youngest scholarship award winner went to Gia Dharma. Also, awarded was Dulce Perez who has won scholarships prior, and now a SB City College student.
Community leader honorees were Tim Cohen, Sonia Aguila, and junior honoree Ellie Olvera.I interviewed them at the event. Cohen shared that he was a Board member for 12 years. He helped to build the Carpinteria Girls Inc. location on Foothill Road 30 years ago. He continues to be involved in the local community serving on the Lynda Fairly Carpinteria Arts Center Board. Aguila shared that she has been an educator for 26 years and has won numerous awards as a Bilingual Teacher for the State of California and National Bilingual Teacher of the Year 2023. Olvera is not a member of Girls Inc., however, was awarded for her research to create eco-friendly, affordable, safe and reusable menstrual pads, earning the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation Award.
The Girls Inc. of Carpinteria team representing at the event were Executive Director Jamie Collins, Development Director Tess Ortega, Programs Director Kenya Rodriguez, College Access and Teen Coordinator Stevie Pell, STEM/SMART Coordinator Stephanie Soicher, Athletics Enrichment Coordinator Lei Talaro, and Gymnastics Coach Lauren Pieri.
The event had a wine reception, and educational booths where attendees could learn about the pillars of the program via interactive activities of basketball, microscopes, and leadership lessons.
Event Lead Sponsors were Lynda Fairly and Chevron, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Foundation, Montecito Bank & Trust, CenCal Health, Gail and Jan Persoon, former Girls Inc. Carp Board President Theresa Huerta, Juan Huerta, UCLA Health, Dr. Anu Sharma, Mercedes Millington (a 2022 Girls Inc. Carpinteria Honoree), Kait Hamilton, State Farm, and Carp Kitchen.
