June 24, 2020 – It was a day of anticipation as Cox Charities Advisory Board members signed onto a video call to surprise high school seniors with scholarships to help defray college costs. Due to state and national social distancing recommendations to slow the spread of COVID-19, the internal team at Cox opted to virtually celebrate 25 recent high school graduates from San Diego.
This year, Cox Charities awarded a total of $77,000 in scholarships to 25 students. Cox Charities is the philanthropic arm of Cox Communications and is funded by employee donations, matched by Cox, and overseen by an advisory board consisting of employees who volunteer their time. The donations are used to support the community in the form of scholarships and nonprofit grants. Statewide, Cox Charities has awarded more than $1.7 million in scholarships to date.
“This year has been unprecedented in so many ways for our graduating high school seniors, and we’re excited to bring them some good news during this challenging time,” said Sam Attisha, Senior Vice President and Region Manager for Cox Communications in California. “These 2020 Cox Scholars are so deserving of these scholarships, and Cox and our employees are proud to recognize all of their hard work and accomplishments.”
Cox Charities Advisory Board members invited students to participate in video calls to learn about their post-graduation plans and what a scholarship would mean to them. The students were unaware at the start of the calls that they had already been selected as Cox Scholars and were surprised and excited to learn that Cox would be awarding each of them with a scholarship for college.
Cox Charities awards college scholarships to graduating high school seniors across our California service areas, including San Diego, Orange County, Palos Verdes, and Santa Barbara. These Cox Scholars are pursuing careers in a STEM related field with a passion for giving back to their community.
Meet the 2020 Cox Scholars
The students were selected based on their academic success, community service, leadership and commitment to their education.
Anna Hinz is a 2020 Coronado High School graduate who will be attending Oregon State University in the fall. She’s pursing a degree in mechanical engineering and hopes to one day be a design engineer for a space program. Seeing people in her community who need help through a tough time in their life is what inspires Anna to give back. She spends her time volunteering with her local Methodist church as a youth leader and Sunday school teacher. She also occasionally volunteers with the San Diego Ultra Running Friends as an aide station worker.
The 2020 Cox Scholars for the San Diego region are:
Dagmawit Assaye (La Jolla High School / La Jolla)
Gicel Abraham (Preuss School / La Jolla)
Randy Bach (Mt. Carmel High School / Rancho Penasquitos)
Angelina Bailey (Mission Hills High School / San Marcos)
Kimberly Barrueta (Oceanside High School / Oceanside))
Jake Basile (Bonita Vista High School / Chula Vista)
Luke Cepurac (La Jolla High School / La Jolla)
Kelly Daugherty (Escondido High School / Escondido)
Kevin Do (El Camino High School / Oceanside)
Zundus Farah (Preuss School / La Jolla)
Bryan Garcia (Southwest High School / Otay Mesa)
Dawwod George (Grossmont High School / El Cajon)
Luiz Gonzalez (Monte Vista High School / Spring Valley)
Anna Hinz (Coronado High School / Coronado)
Way Hlaing (E3 Civic High School / Downtown)
Muhammed Jaafar (Valhala High School / El Cajon)
Gustavo Candia Jaramillo (Hoover High School / City Heights)
Neil Mashruwala (Grossmont High School / El Cajon)
Luan Nguyen (Lincoln High School / Lincoln Park-San Diego)
Karla Padilla Leon (Olympian High School / Chula Vista)
Thavanh Pais (Point Loma High School / Point Loma)
Alby Penney (Patrick Henry High School / Del Cerro)
Mackenzie Tassiello (Mater Dei Catholic High School / Chula Vista)
Kevin Vo (Preuss School / La Jolla)
Maya Wesson (San Diego High School of SCITECH / Downtown San Diego)
For more information on the Cox Scholars program, visit www.coxcharitiesca.org.
