BRIGHT FUTURES — Golden Pass presents 9 students complete college funds, options for pre & post graduation
Published 12:30 am Tuesday, June 8, 2021
- Sabine Pass ISD graduate Alexander Saucedo, in dark jacket, his sister Jasmin Perez and mother Brenda Saucedo wait for the ceremony to begin. (Mary Meaux/The News)
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A scholarship program that provides tuition and textbooks and places students with a mentor for real-life work experience is helping Port Arthur and Sabine Pass graduates.
Golden Pass LNG presented eight Port Arthur Independent School District graduates and one Sabine Pass ISD graduate each with a scholarship for more than $13,000.
The scholarship includes tuition for a process technology degree at Lamar State College Port Arthur or Lamar Institute of Technology, books and career counseling services.
Edriena Alexander with Carheel Consulting, right, speaks with Memorial High School graduate Angela Bennett. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Each student also has a Golden Pass LNG employee mentor. Once completed, the student can interview for a permanent position at the Golden Pass facility.
“I am grateful for it,” Sabine graduate Alexander Saucedo said. “I’m excited to see what it brings.”
Brenda Saucedo, Alexander’s mother, said she is extremely proud and excited for her son.
Angela Bennett, a Memorial High School graduate, was surprised and excited at news she was a scholarship recipient.
Her father Reggie Bennett said it is not every day someone gets this amount of a scholarship.
Mary Ann Reid, Golden Pass community affairs specialist, explained how the Golden Pass scholarship is different than others.
Memorial High School graduate Phi Tran, right, shakes hands with John Fraser, vice president of operations for Golden Pass. (Mary Meaux/The News)
The funds pay for tuition and make available a career counselor who meets with the students weekly to talk about education, answer questions or provide assistance.
If there is a need for a tutor, then one will be made available, Reid said of Edriena Alexander with Carheel Consulting.
For example, there was one student who spoke with her career counselor, saying she couldn’t make it to class because of problems with her car. Alexander has many resources and was able to help the student and get her car repaired, Reid said.
“These are resources that you probably didn’t know about. I had no clue about. She taught me about it,” Reid said. “I was just blown away by some of the things that are available to students, to assist them in being successful. So we are committed to these kids being successful. That’s your career counselor side. The other side of this scholarship is that you get a mentor.”
The mentor is there to help, as well, and can assist students with questions in process technology.
The 2020-2021 scholarship winners include:
- Lisandro Valencia, Memorial High School
- Angela Bennett, Memorial High School
- Juan Cardenas, Woodrow Wilson Early College High School
- Marcus Kemper, Memorial High School
- Randy Nguyen, Memorial High School
- Ivan Ochoa, Memorial High School
- Huy Tran, Woodrow Wilson Early College High School
- Phi Tran, Memorial High School
- Alexander Saucedo, Sabine Pass School
