Six at Estancia High Awarded Scholarships

Save Our Youth awarded $7,000 in scholarships this week to six high school seniors who adhere to the program’s tenets of avoiding drugs, gangs and teen pregnancy.

Estancia High School seniors Gerardo Aguilar, Eduardo Hilario, Felipe Jimenez, Aida Menjivar, Eddie Sotomayor and Israel Vasquez were honored at the event with grants ranging from $500 to $1,800. The amounts varied depending on the students’ grades and how long they have participated in Save Our Youth.

A portion of the money must be spent for college or trade school. Thirty-three junior high school students also received citations to encourage them to complete high school.

Those who enroll in Save Our Youth, known as SOY, are required to avoid the pitfalls of drugs and gangs and improve their academic performance to qualify for scholarships, which are offered as an incentive to avoid trouble and stay in school.

Eventually, however, the money becomes less important as the students perform better academically, officials say.

“We’ve had kids who were D and F students, and now they’re A and B students,” said Oscar Santoyo, SOY’s executive director. “The money becomes secondary.”

Students selected for the program often are considered to be at risk of joining gangs but show promise, officials said. They typically spend time after school working with SOY volunteers at the program’s Rea Community Center headquarters on Hamilton Street.

“The students who are qualified . . . are not necessarily the valedictorians of their class,” Santoyo said. “They may be pulling lower grades, but they have the potential to do better. We really believe in these kids.”