YAKIMA, WashSuperfresh Growers® is proud of their five scholarship recipients and will honor them with a virtual party later this summer. Superfresh Growers awards more than $25,000 of scholarships each year through Washington Apple Education Foundation (WAEF). The scholarships are available to employees and their children.

The Superfresh Growers Kershaw Companies Scholarships awards $5,000 per year, renewable for up to four years of undergraduate studies. The scholarship is available each year to one additional student. This year we applauded Nick

Jacoby as the 2020 recipient. In addition to Nick, three other students are actively receiving scholarships: Joselin Marin, Adilene Badillo Hernandez, and Imelda Andrade Anguiano. In addition, Carli Short achieved renewal of the Brian Kershaw Memorial Scholarship this year. 

“This has been a year like none other.  The ray of hope and promise for the future these scholarships create means much more than financial support.  You are communicating your belief in the potential of these young men and women and your expectation of good things to come,” shares Jennifer Witherbee, Executive Director of WAEF. 

“All of our scholarship recipients do amazing things every day and we are so proud of them. I am filled with hope for our future by hearing their stories and getting to know them,” shares Kristin Kershaw, Director of Corporate Affairs. We asked our scholarship recipients to share highlights from their past year in college. Here are a few of them.

Nick Jacoby is the son of Katie and Jon Jacoby in DSG Logistics®.  He will be a freshman at Grand Canyon University and graduated from LaSalle High School summa cum laude. He earned a 3.7 cumulative grade point average.  Nick would like to major in agriculture and live in the Yakima Valley.  He participated in LaSalle’s track & field team and was a middle linebacker on the football team.  He volunteers at the Living Care Retirement Community and is a member of National Honor Society.

His favorite class in his senior year was Contemporary World Issues.  “We get to learn about problems in our world today. The biggest lesson I learned is how to react, behave, or handle situations that we face in today’s world. We had a large unit on opioids and how to confront users in the family or close friends. I feel like this is important because it taught us to treat everyone with the utmost respect even if they have a lot of personal issues going on. As well as techniques or methods to help them realize and recover from this destructive addiction,” writes Nick.

Joselin Marin will receive her second year of the Kershaw Companies scholarship.  She attends the University of Washington (UW) and had an amazing high school to college transition earning at 3.97 grade point average in her first term.  She is the daughter of Superfresh Growers employee Araceli Badillo Islas.

Joselin shares, “One of my favorite memories from college this past year was attending Huskies on the Hill, which is a program that takes UW students to Olympia to advocate for issues and to represent our legislative district. It was a great experience and I was given the opportunity to meet multiple Washington state legislators. Below are photos of the first day I moved into the dorms with my friends, and of me at the Capitol Hill.”

Adi at her desk at Superfresh Growers

Adilene Badillo Hernandez has been working for Superfresh Growers as an Export Sales Assistant for the last three years, while also attending college. She is a first generation college attendee, and plans to be a first generation college graduate! She attended Yakima Valley College for the first two years, and will continue at Central Washington University. Her work with the export team at Superfresh Growers has inspired her to pursue a degree in International Business.

“My favorite class this past year has to definitely be my business law class!” Adilene shares. “It was by far the most interesting, and the professor was such a joy to have. It was refreshing to learn something that wasn’t just numbers and calculations. We read some interesting cases that really mind boggled a lot of the students. Something that I learned in that class was how to really put yourself in any one situation and try to analyze everyone’s different perspective.”

Adilene shares that her business calculus study group was her favorite college memory. “We would always make it fun with music, or create a competition with who could solve the problem the fastest. On the last night of studying we would always go out as good luck. At that time we were able to forget about school for a moment and catch up with each other!”

Imelda Andrade Anguiano is finishing her last year at the University of Washington.  She is majoring in sociology with a minor in Spanish. She will continue her education by pursing a master’s degree in social work. Imelda’s mom, and Superfresh employee Marisol Anguiano Diaz, is the sole financial support for her family. 

Imelda shared that “back in February I attended UW’s Ritmo Latino event hosted by a student group called Unidas Seremos. It is one of my favorite events because it is a chance to be surrounded by and appreciate my culture. Although it is called Ritmo Latino everyone is welcome to attend, not just Latinos. UW talks about diversity and this is one of the many events where people can learn about and engage with a different culture through music.”

Carli Short achieved renewal of the Brian Kershaw Memorial Scholarship.  She attends George Fox University seeking a

marketing degree with a minor in psychology.  Carli had a very strong transition to college earning a 3.94 grade point average in her first term. She is the daughter of Lakeishia and Jay Short of Superfresh Growers.

Carli shares that her favorite class “was surprisingly microeconomics. It scared me at first, but it’s really helping me understand why things are priced a certain way and more of how the economy works.” She continues that that her favorite college memories always include her awesome friends, “Whether it was watching The Bachelor every week, studying, or even doing the polar plunge, we always had the best times together.” Superfresh Growers is proud of each of these students and all students receiving WAEF scholarships. This year 310 students are receiving WAEF scholarships, with 73 graduating this year. Of those, 34 have already secured their first career position, and eight have been accepted into graduate school.