San Jose students win scholarships that come with a mentor

Students from Pioneer and Lincoln high schools were among 11 winners of scholarships from Pursuit of Excellence (POE-South Bay) this summer.

POE-South Bay, a scholarship and mentorship program for low-income, high-achieving students, was founded in 2015 by Donna Guldimann of Saratoga and Rosemary Rossi of Los Gatos. Scholarship winners receive up to $4,000 per year during college and work with a mentor to help navigate college life.

This year’s POE-Scholars from Lincoln High School are Ximena Soto Hernandez, who will be attending San Jose State University to major in nursing; Jimena Gomez, who is going to UC Santa Barbara to major in biology; David Zamora, who will major in mechanical engineering at SJSU; Elyssa Castrejon, who is going to UCLA along with her twin sister to major in biology and society; and  Marina Garcia, who will attend UC Davis and plans to major in biomedical engineering.

Scholarship winners from Pioneer High School are Tamba Mbawa, who will attend Stanford University and has yet to select a major; Julio Hernandez Vera, who will attend San Jose City College with plans to transfer to SJSU to major in electrical engineering; and Desteny Villa, who is attending SJSU and plans to enroll in the nursing program.

Students from Independence High School who were awarded scholarships include Jenny Liu, Ethan Ho and Pedro Rosas Pedilla.

All 11 scholarship recipients met at a picnic at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos.