Panel Awards Scholarships to Children of Farm Workers

Hortencia Baez has spent more than a decade tending Ventura County’s strawberry fields, supplying her sweat and muscle to an industry that has become the largest in local agriculture.

Last month, the strawberry fields yielded a big return.

Her 17-year-old daughter, Deicy, was one of 20 high school seniors across the state awarded scholarships by the California Strawberry Commission as part of a program aimed at putting the children of farm workers on the college track.

“We are very proud of her,” Baez said of her daughter, an honor student at Hueneme High School in Oxnard who will attend UC Riverside in the fall.

“I’ve left my youth in the fields, but it has provided this opportunity to allow her to pursue her studies,” Baez said.

This year the commission handed out $62,000 in scholarship money to 20 high school seniors and 67 college students. All have parents who have worked California’s strawberry harvest for at least two consecutive seasons.

“The industry really wanted to give back to the community and to the people who work in the strawberry fields,” said Abby Taylor, a spokeswoman for the California Strawberry Commission. “I think people in this industry just really appreciate the work that goes into [the harvest] and they see this as a way of saying thank you.”

Scholarship recipients receive between $200 and $1,500 based on the college they attend, their academic records and other factors. Of the first-time recipients this year, one attends high school in San Diego County, another goes to school in Orange County and others attend campuses in berry-growing communities along the Central Coast.

No high school produced more scholarship winners than Hueneme High in Oxnard, where five seniors received awards.

Yasmin Carranza and Luis Herrera each received $300 and plan to attend Oxnard College in the fall. Miguelina Zapien and Alfredo Vieyra received $1,500 scholarships and will attend UC Santa Barbara.

Deicy Baez feels the same way after snagging a $1,250 scholarship from the commission. The oldest of three children, Deicy plans to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UC Riverside and become an elementary schoolteacher.