‘Enjoyable cash’ scholarships permit Immokalee Foundation college students to discover the nation

Some Immokalee college students are getting scholarships that merely require them to have an excellent time.

Since 2015, Dr. Massoud Eghrari and his spouse, Tayebeh, have awarded “fun money” scholarships in honor of Dr. Eghrari’s late spouse, Isabella, to deserving Immokalee Foundation college students. To be eligible, college students will need to have efficiently accomplished their first semester of school and write an essay about how they might spend $500 purely having enjoyable.

Although the Immokalee Foundation’s major objective is to develop Southwest Florida’s workforce of the long run, this comes with its personal set of challenges, chief amongst them being that a lot of the college students it helps stay simply north or south of the poverty line.

“Though the agricultural community of Immokalee lies just three hours south of Orlando, many foundation students have never been to a theme park as the disposable income was never available,” defined Noemi Y. Perez, Immokalee Foundation president and CEO, herself a local of the underserved city of Immokalee.

One of the scholarship recipients, Genesis, defined what she wrote in her essay.

“I knew that we were, me and my family were trying to plan something for Christmas. So when I discovered that this scholarship was available, I immediately went on board, because I knew that it would just be a great financial support on a trip that was made to be fun and away from academic stress.”

So Genesis and several other relations drove to Chicago whereas Genesis was on a vacation break from finding out utilized physiology and kinesiology, which is her main.

“During Christmas we’ve kind of made it a tradition to get out of Florida, and that was kind of like our Christmas gift. … and we just decided that Chicago was something different,” she stated.

Ivan, who’s majoring in building administration, had his sights set on a distinct metropolis.

“My last previous December, I wasn’t able to really do much because I got, unfortunately, I got injured through one of the sports I was doing in my high school years, and I just wanted to go out and explore the country and go to my first concert ever,” he stated.

That live performance was in Nashville.

“And also I wanted to experience the full Nashville, to go around the city and explore. And it was really amazing. I still think about those days.”

The Isabella Eghrari Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to greater than 130 college students, totaling over $65,000.

“The scholarship aims to provide Immokalee Foundation students with a sense of well-being and a reminder that they are not only supported in their academic pursuits but also cared for as individuals,” added Perez.

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