For Gilroy High seniors Victor Olmos and Bryanna Chavez, May 19 was life changing.
Olmos and Chavez were each awarded $50,000 from the Julio Mata Family Scholarship during the GHS Senior Awards Banquet. Both will major in pre-med when they attend their new schools in the fall. Olmos will attend Stanford, while Chavez is headed to UC-Berkeley. A total of $191,300 of scholarship funds were awarded at the banquet, a dramatic increase from last year, which GHS principal Marco Sanchez said ranged from $60-70,000.
“Bryanna is a stud, stellar student. She has just come into her own here at Gilroy High,” Sanchez said. “She’s a very strong student, very personable and has aspirations in the medical field. This will really help fund her next step in her educational experience as well as Victor (Olmos) who has pre-med aspirations as well. He’s heading to Stanford.”
The scholarship—which is doled out as a $12,500 annual scholarship—is given to four graduating seniors, two male and two female, who reside within the Gilroy Unified School District. The student must maintain a 3.0 or higher to be eligible, live with GUSD boundaries and the student’s father must be of paternal Mexican heritage and surname, per the donor’s instructions. Receiving the Julio Mata Family Scholarship, the Dennis DeBell Memorial, Drs. Wafelbakker & Anderson Scholastic, Myrle Wofle Memorial and South County Realtors Alliance scholarships, in addition to ones previously awarded, brings Chavez’s scholarship total to $198,000. Olmos also received the Rudy Melone Memorial and South Valley Middle School CJSF scholarships, which provided an additional $1,000 each.
Both Chavez and Olmos received the Excellence Gold Seal, indicating they have maintained a grade point average of 4.00 or higher and the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma. Olmos made the list of California Scholarship Federation Lifetime Members, while Chavez received the Seal of Biliteracy. Olmos also completed more than 160 hours of community service—in addition to being a three-time Central Coast Section champion wrestler.
Caitlin Filice-Hollar, who will join Chavez as a pre-med student at UC-Berkeley, leads the graduating class with scholarships totaling $221,350—$1,600 was awarded at the banquet through the P.E.O Gilroy Chapter and Rudy Melone Memorial scholarships. She received the Excellence Gold Seal and Golden State Seal Merit Diploma and is a CSF Lifetime Member.
“The biomedical academy and sports medicine has a lot to do with the influence on our student’s decisions to stay in that field,” Sanchez said. “I’m very proud to be the principal there. (The Senior Awards) was just great. It was just one after the other and the dollar amounts (kept rising). It was a proud moment.”
Bryan Kachakji made several trips to the podium, receiving five scholarships at the banquet—ASMS Gavilan College, Kimberly Ordaz Memorial, Leadership Excellence Award, Rudy Melone Memorial and South County Cal-SOAP—totalling $5,250. He also received the Excellence Gold Seal and Golden State Seal Merit Diploma, is a CSF Lifetime Member and earned the Seal of Biliteracy. Kachakji will attend New York University in the fall.
Gilroy also honored three students who have opted for a career in the armed forces at the banquet. Isaiah Madolora and Sharada Darbhamulla will join the Army, and Bianca Johnson has enlisted with the Marines.
