Cargill Awards $13,000 in Scholarships to Newark Memorial Grads

Submitted by Cargill 

NEWARK, Calif. — Cargill has awarded six Newark Memorial High School graduating seniors a total of $12,000 in college scholarships through Cargill’s Claire Lopez Memorial Scholarship Program, and gave one student a $1,000 Ohlone Community College grant.

Winners announced May 30 were: Jessica Seto, who will study civil engineering at UC Davis ($4,000), Susan Le, who will major in molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley ($3,000), Sandra Lee, a pre-pharmacy major at University of the Pacific ($2,000), and $1000 winners Joseph Angeja (Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo), Duc Dinh (University of San Francisco) and Scott Jorgens (Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo). 

Since initiating its Newark Memorial High School scholarship program with a top grant of $1,000 in 1999, Cargill has awarded $84,500 to Newark high school graduates in honor of Claire Lopez, the former chief engineer for the salt company.  Over the past few years, Cargill has awarded $35,000 to the Ohlone Community College scholarship program.

Scholarships are based on several factors including: grades, extra-curricular activities, community service, a two-page essay, recommendation letters and financial need. These criteria reflect the personal qualities of Claire Lopez. With only an 8th grade education, Lopez rose to become chief engineer of the Leslie Salt Company (Cargill’s predecessor), overseeing salt operations on 40,000 acres and the construction of three salt plants. He also served on the Fremont School Board and dedicated much of his time to mentoring young people.

Cargill employs 200 union and management workers at its Newark solar salt and refinery where the company produces 500,000 tons of salt each year to supply food, agriculture and industry in the Western United States. 

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services.  Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 131,000 people in 66 countries.  Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to applying its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business.  For more information, visit www.cargill.com.