Coronado’s Own Bianca Valle, CHS Senior, Wins Nordstrom Scholarship
Nearly eight months ago, Coronado High School senior Bianca Valle (then a junior) started the process of applying for college scholarships. According to her mother, Suzette Valle, she applied for eight scholarships and interviewed for several, but was not chosen for any. The Nordstrom Scholarship, called Ten4U, was the last on the list and the largest monetary award.
Interviewed by a group of community leaders for the Ten4U scholarship this past August, the wait was worth it as Anita Crandall, Diversity Affairs Director for Nordstrom, walked into Bianca’s fourth period class this morning and started to talk about the scholarship. If you watch the video, you will see that Bianca had a good idea of what was transpiring. She didn’t want to react, however, until she was sure. When Anita announced that Bianca is the recipient of a $10,000 scholarship, she could hardly breathe, but managed, “Thank you so much!” It was truly a wonderful moment.
Bianca Valle is seventeen years old and an AP scholar. She is the student representative on the Coronado Schools Foundation (CSF) board and is the only student on the Coronado Cultural Arts Commission Film Committee. Bianca is highly involved in both the community and her school. She is the founder and president of the Art of Giving Club, a philanthropic group she established three years ago on campus as a response to monetary cuts for the arts. The club members create and donate art projects to charities, helping the charity raise money for its cause. To date, the Art of Giving club has helped CSF raise $1,400 for education. Bianca has served as the President of SAFE’s Trading Card Club and spent six months at eCoronado.com as an intern. She also played softball for two years and this past summer travelled to Salamanca, Spain with her AP Spanish class, attending a language school, living with a host family and seeing the country. Bianca was also honored this past summer by the State of California with the distinction of California Arts Scholar. She completed a four week pre-professional school in the area of Film and Video production, a field she hopes to pursue in college.
Left: Bianca with her parents Alex and Suzette. Above: Grandparents Jaime and Norma Paullada jump in for a picture.
Her first choice for college is NYU, though I know her family hopes she stays a little closer to home.
Mother Suzette, father Alex and grandparents Jaime and Norma Paullada were all present for the surprise and bursting with pride. They knew Bianca was being honored with the scholarship, but no one was expecting Ms. Crandall to also present Bianca with a brand new laptop and enough cake bites for her entire class from “Cupcake Wars” winner Sweet Tooth Fairy.
The Nordstrom TEN4U scholarship program is the retailer’s way of supporting the communities where they do business and “helping motivated students move one step closer to achieving their academic dreams.” The scholarship has been awarded since 1994 to high school students from across the country. In 2013, the company will continue its generosity, awarding eighty scholarships of $10,000. The scholarship is divided into four equal payments of $2,500 to the college of the student’s choice.
Bianca was chosen from what Nordstrom calls the San Diego Mountain Area which encompasses the city and county of San Diego, Imperial County and the states of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. Over 12,000 students met the scholarship criteria and after application submission, 750 students were eligible for the prize. Of that number, only sixteen were chosen for personal interviews with ten of those receiving the $10,000 award. Counselor Debbie Collins said she is fairly certain that other CHS students have applied before, but this is the first time a CHS senior has won!
If you have a high school junior who is interested in applying, visit www.nordstrom.com/scholarship.
Congratulations Bianca!
