SoCal Edison Scholar Jacqueline Canchola-Martínez wants to become an environmental lawyer
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When Jacqueline Canchola-Martínez applied for the Edison Scholars scholarship program for students who want to pursue a career in the STEM field, she knew it was going to be a competitive process.
So, when Canchola-Martínez logged onto a Zoom call thinking she was going for another interview in the scholarship process, she was surprised by the news that she has won the award.
“It was really surprising, I think, because I knew going into it that it was really competitive,” said Canchola-Martínez of getting the 2021 scholarship. “So, it was really surprising and also felt really good to know that I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to have to pay for college.”
“With my financial aid package from Berkeley, I’m pretty much all set. It covers everything that the financial aid package did not cover,” the 17-year-old graduating senior who was one of the 30 high school seniors selected as this year’s scholars.
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Each student is receiving a $40,000 college scholarship to pursue their dreams in STEM - science, technology, engineering, or math.
Canchola-Martínez said it was really nice to be able to tell her parents that they don’t have to worry about how to pay for college.
The 2021 Edison Scholars scholarship is a program with Edison International which awarded a total of $1.2 million in scholarships this year to invest in the bright futures of the scholars and their communities.
Since 2006, Edison International has awarded more than $12.3 million in scholarships to 700 students.
Canchola-Martínez said she applied to nine colleges in California and got accepted to all of them. For her it was between UC Berkeley and UCLA.
“But I chose Berkeley because I felt like more welcomed as a Latinx scholar student,” she said of heading to UC Berkeley to study environmental science in the fall. “I felt like I could see myself in that community. And also, they have a lot of other cool environmental things that other schools don’t have, like Berkeley student farms. And you can learn to grow your own food and learning about all of that.”
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Canchola-Martínez graduated from Redwood High School in Visalia on June 4 during a walk-through graduation ceremony where graduating seniors had appointments for them and their families to walk together as students followed a red carpet to meet Redwood Principal Matt Shin to receive their diploma cover. She is graduated with a with a 4.0 GPA and is top five in her class.
Canchola-Martínez is first generation American, her mother Sarah Elena Martínez, a Spanish translator, was born in Nicaragua and lived in Panamá all her life until she immigrated to the United State. Her father Ignacio Canchola, a farmworker, is from México.
She also received four scholarships from her school including the Evelin Alexander Memorial Scholarship which is about $7,000 a year for four years.
Living in the Central Valley, Canchola-Martínez has seen the importance of the agricultural industry and its impact on the environment. She has goals of designing and implementing new models of regenerative agriculture that can feed the world, support economies, and mitigate climate change.
The younger of two siblings, Canchola-Martínez was always interested in science but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do that for a living until last year when she started to learn more about how environment racism connects and affect the Latinx and black communities.
“I think that after college I want to be an environmental lawyer to help protect those communities. So, it connects my interest in science with social science,” she said, adding that she is hoping to go to Berkeley Law School for that but also considering school on the East Coast to get new experiences outside California.
She has been part of the HEAL (Healing, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership) project nonprofit organization since it started last summer in Visalia which focus on leadership development for students of color in Visalia.
She is also the founder and head of graphic design for Students 4 Climate Change Action school organization.
“Through this my team and I were able to inform our community on climate change, intersectionality, and we hosted community cleanups,” Canchola-Martinez said. “It really made me realize the power of bringing together youth and the community and affirmed that I wanted to do this type of work on climate, the environment.” She is also a Services, Immigrants’ Rights Education Network (SIREN) youth fellow.
María G. Ortiz-Briones: 559-441-6782, @TuValleTuSalud
María G. Ortiz-Briones: 559-441-6782, @tuvalletusalud
Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 4 de junio de 2021, 6:17 p. m..
