Maricopa High seniors receive $1.3 million in scholarships

Several of Maricopa High School’s seniors will have at least some relief against the high cost of college tuition as more than $1.3 million in scholarships was awarded during at the school’s honors ceremony on Friday.

Approximately 130 students were beneficiaries of the scholarships and in many cases students received more than one.

With more than $90,000 in various scholarships in hand, Brittney Rocha has many options for studying at the next level. “Most of the scholarships I just applied for. Some of them just by applying to the college – they looked at my transcripts and that qualified me for certain scholarships,” she said. “I studied a lot and the scholarships were a big motivation because I knew that my family has somewhat of a financial hardship, so scholarships are definitely my focus and getting into college.”

Rocha said she’s chosen to attend the University of Arizona and study secondary education.

Meardey Kong was well rewarded for her studies, garnering about $135,000 worth of scholarships. Kong was also named an Advanced Placement Scholar.

Some of the scholarships have been organized by Maricopa residents such as Greg Huffman. The Huffman family created the Matthew Huffman Memorial Scholarship in honor of their son, who passed away in 2002 during his senior year at Maricopa High.

“We raised money and did the scholarship, not so much for Matt but basically for all the hundreds of students that are just like him, having a tremendous amount of character, that are work-oriented and very diligent in what they do,” Greg Huffman said. “We are trying to find a way to make it somewhat easier for them to continue on with their education.”

The Matthew Huffman Memorial Scholarship was started in 2002 and since then has benefited 11 students.

“Tonight was somewhat unusual because all five finalists received the scholarship. It was so hard to decide,” Greg Huffman said. “We have one student that received $1,000 and the four others all received $500 each. We had that many truly deserving students that we could not make the decision to cut one of them out, so we just said, they all deserve a part this scholarship.”

Seeing many of seniors awarded for their work is motivation for Amberlee Scott. The sophomore has already received an award for having an A in all six classes through the entire year.

“I want a scholarship, I study so much all the time,” she said. You see how much money there is, like $70,000, that’s pretty easy money for studying.”

The many opportunities that the students have to obtain scholarships are definitely a motivation and Maricopa High School’s students are on the right track for a promising and successful future.

To view a full list of the scholarships and awards, click here.

Photo by Andréia Benite Cox