STEM Scholarships 2019

Last year we started up a Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Mathematics (STEM) scholarship for those graduating High School seniors who plan on pursuing a degree in the discipline. STEM is very near and dear to us, and it just made sense for us to offer a scholarship supporting youth in such a challenging field.

How are we involved in the STEM field? Well to start, Biology research has helped our government determine that water quality and ecosystem preservation is important, and has lead to regulations that gave way to our company. Technology and chemistry has allowed us to sample and test for non-visible pollutants that tell us to identify corrective actions on our job sites. Engineering allows us to create designs that minimize impact and prevent erosion. Underlying Mathematics always plays a role in our work, whether it be with the physics of a slope and sediment type, risk assessment, or the computations in our sampling devices. Are we nerds? Yes. Are we proud? You betcha.

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We are proud to be involved with STEM, and are especially proud to have several women (including a she-president) that are involved in this field. Can I get a heck yes to #womeninhardhats?

To give back to our community and inspire our youth to pursue a very challenging and rewarding career in STEM, we decided to offer this scholarship to candidates who will be pursuing a degree in either science, technology, engineering, and/or math.

Applicants were asked to write about how they intend on using their degree in STEM to improve the world, and oh boy, did we receive some great responses. From, "I want to help improve road quality and safety, and implement more sustainable roadways" to "I want to be the person to help animals feel better". How could we make a decision with answers like these? We felt inspired by these candidates and their responses.

We received 23 applications, and selected 2 candidates for a $500 scholarship. To say that selecting only two people was difficult is an understatement. We started our selection process the day that we picked up our applications from the High School on April 5th, and carefully read through each application. Eventually a decision was reached.

This year we are proud to announce that Beau Carbajal and Samantha Bleasdale have won our 2019 STEM Scholarship. And, after reading their stories and writing our awards ceremony speeches we decided that we could help out a little more and upped the scholarships to $1000 each.

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Education is the key to success, and teaching others is how to better the world.

—Samantha Bleasdale, 2019 Scholarship Recipient

Thank you to Dixon High School (especially Mrs. Torres) for putting together this Scholarship event; and to the DHS Class of 2019 for being a class of passion, drive, and inspiration. Best of luck to all applicants as they begin their college adventures in the fall. Thank you for sharing your stories with us.

Watch the Awards Speech by clicking here!

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