Auto dealer aids youth

Scholarships awarded to high school students

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press May 22, 2001.

By ALYSON MARTIN
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Camacho Auto Sales has established a new scholarship and awarded it to 11 Antelope Valley High School District students.

The winners of Camacho's "Road to the Future" scholarships contest each received $500 to help continue their educations.

Randy Newton, marketing director for the auto dealership, said the scholarships grew out of Gus Camacho Jr.'s desire to give back to the community.

When Camacho was a student at Pepperdine University, he needed financial assistance at one time, Newton said.

He got that assistance and now wants to do the same for another generation of college students.

"Gus just wants to give back to the community that helped him along," Newton said.

Scholarship applicants had to have a grade-point average of at least 3.0 and have employment experience or community involvement, said Colleen Wardlaw, marketing consultant for High Desert Broadcasting.

Wardlaw, who coordinates Camacho's on-air advertising, helped develop the contest idea through a series of meetings with Camacho, Newton and high school district spokeswoman Linda Solcich.

The third and final requirement for applicants were 250-word essays explaining their "Road to the Future."

"Our main thing was, did they grasp `What's my road to the future?' " Newton said, noting that organizers were looking for more than just a list of accomplishments. "Was the essay actually true to the heart?"

Fifty students from Antelope Valley, Highland, Lancaster, Littlerock, Palmdale and Quartz Hill high schools entered the contest.

From that field, 11 winners were chosen based on the strength of their essays.

"The winners all had tremendous essays," Newton said.

The winners of Camacho's "Road to the Future" scholarships, with excerpts from their essays, are:

Mariana Mafnas
"I have been able to travel along a well-paved road through most of my life, but during this crucial time of decision-making and maturing in my life I believe that the road I am currently traveling on will lead to `the road less traveled.' "

Jennifer Bowers
"Just imagine what education would do for the outlook of many poorer countries in our world. Many organizations target this lack in their philanthropic work because it can be so vital to survival. Food can be given once, or agricultural skills can be taught that will feed families for generations to come."

Zachary T. Bauer
"At heart I am an engineer like my father. Divorce, however, aborted his plans to obtain a formal degree in engineering. Like his father and grandfather, he gained employment through hard work and ingenuity, but career advancement and job security have been elusive. From this life's lesson, I have learned the value of a complete higher education."

Samantha Ren'ee Deal
"My goal is to achieve my medical doctorate and, while in the residency program, begin my studies of forensic science. Forensic pathology has always interested me. In the past few years I have had the opportunity to see autopsies and speak with a deputy coroner."

Stephanie Blum
"My final educational goal is to transfer to my dream school, the University of Southern California, and graduate with a bachelor's degree in business marketing. "I hope to use my business degree as a start to open my own clothing store, which I will name My Sister's Closet, because every girl knows the best clothes always come from their sister's closet."

Veronica Richards
"The college years are perhaps the most important years of our lives because we will no longer have the leisure of following a path that has been shown to us, but know we must create our own path."

Claudia Portillo
"After I graduate from medical school, I plan to complete my residency (four years of low-paid medical work training) at a respected hospital. When my residency is complete I will have completed part of my `road to the future' and many of my goals."

Hollie Leishman
"The road I'm taking to the future has no speed limit. I'm getting there as fast as I can. At my destination I will be an educated and accomplished person. I want to be a schoolteacher and help educate the future's doctors, scientists and even presidents. I also want to pass on the gift of music that has blessed my life so much."

Patricia Bautista
"I have grown to become a determined individual with a passion for the law, politics and international relations; that is why my major is going to be political science/international affairs. Being an intern at the law office has had a major influence on my decision to go into criminal law. I want to become a diplomat because I want to represent the U.S. in other countries to make, improve and maintain peaceful relations."

Jessica Centonze
"I have worked hard to make the road to my future smooth as possible. I always had the desire and motivation to become a teacher. My road has been paved to the best of my ability and I hope that it leads me to my destination."