The SFPUC and its social impact partner, Water Resources Engineering, Inc. (WRE), Inc. will award two Chicana Latina Foundation scholarships for Latina college students with residency in San Francisco. Rosa Estrada and Andrea Serrano will each receive a scholarship of $1,500 to apply to their college education.

The application process for these scholarships opened in February 2019. The sponsorships are in partnership with the SFPUC’s Social Impact Partnership Program.

Through the Chicana Latina Foundation, two Latinas pursuing a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) or related career and currently attending a college, university or community college in San Francisco will receive $1,500 toward their college education. As part of the scholarship, recipients will also attend a three-day Leadership Institute event where they will participate in various activities including writing workshops and sessions on strengthening their cultural identity and sense of belonging.

“I am extremely proud to be an outlier and not a statistic. The Latinx community is highly underrepresented in the STEM field which is why I take so much pride in majoring in Biology-Physiology with a minor in Chemistry. It is an accomplishment I feel every day from the moment I wake up to the second I am seated in my science courses,” said Estrada in her scholarship application. “My passion for science is deeply rooted, and although it has undoubtedly been four years filled with rigorous demands by this competitive field, I always remind myself of the bigger picture, my bigger purpose, which is to shed light on the potential and the powerful knowledge that Latinas can execute in science.”

For Serrano, she shared that one of her “proudest accomplishment to date is having been accepted into graduate school at the University of San Francisco.”

She shares, “My desire for seeking a Master of Science in nursing and Clinical Nurse Leader License stems from my desire to improve and invigorate the community in which I was raised. I defied the odds against me as a woman of color from a low-income single-family home, by being the first in my family to attend college and seek out a graduate degree.”

The scholarship selection process ran from April through June, and scholarship recipients were announced in mid-June and winners will attend the 2019 Annual Scholarship Awards Gala on Saturday, October 18, 2019. 

The Chicana Latina Foundation sponsors merit-based scholarships for 30-40 Latina students each year. Latinas who are currently enrolled in higher education in one of the following Northern California counties are encouraged to apply: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, San Francisco, Sonoma, or Yolo.