They’re studying everything from electrical engineering and HVAC to dental hygiene and photography. And their college expenses just got more affordable thanks to a Krome Scholarship from RCMA.
Since 2015, we have supported dozens of RCMA employees, their families and our alumni by providing scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $6,000. More than $146,000 in scholarship money has been awarded.
The most recent awards of $2,500 each went this spring to nine people, including eight first-time recipients.
Jose Flores, a former student at our Wimauma Community Academy (WCA), is graduating in August from Southern Technical College in Tampa, where he studied HVACR. “The scholarship helped me greatly to graduate and stabilize my financial status. I’m grateful for the help.”
Janet Garcia, who also went to WCA, will soon be studying business at Hillsborough Community College. She says the scholarship will “help me purchase books, materials, or any other college expenses or necessities without having to worry how I’m going to get this huge amount of money from to provide for a higher education.”
Karina Valadez, who attended our Bowling Green Child Development Center and whose mother is an early childhood specialist at our Avon Park Child Development Center, will start at Polk State College this fall. She wants to earn her associate’s degree and then transfer to a university and study journalism. She plans to use the scholarship for tuition and books.
Alicia Resendiz, who went to our Plant City Child Development Center, will pursue nursing at Hillsborough Community College. She learned about the Krome Scholarship at her high school’s migrant room. She says the funds help ease her financial worries and mean more time for studying, which “could improve my grades and knowledge retention as well as increase my likelihood of finishing college.” If she didn’t get scholarships, she says, she would have to find a job and work nonstop, which would most likely divert her attention from her schoolwork.
Griselda Santiago, who started out at our Dover Child Development Center, heard about the Krome Scholarship program from one of her former teachers. She will study photography at Hillsborough Community College this fall.
Freddy Jimenez, a graduate of our Immokalee Community Academy, has been pursuing an electrical engineering program at Washington State University since 2019. Board Member and former Executive Director Barbara Mainster encouraged him to apply for the funding. “The Krome Scholarship will help me reduce the load on a payment I am making on a cochlear device. This will help my education as it will allow me to hear my instructors and do well in class.”
Erika Gutierrez, an Information and Database Specialist in our Centro Villas Child Development Center, was one of the first scholarship recipients. She used the funds for tuition at Miami Dade College, where she earned her associate’s degree in early childhood education.
The Krome Educational Fund was established by William H. and Phoebe Krome to help individuals with farmworker backgrounds, and their children, attain a higher standard of living than that into which they were born. Recipients are selected based on their good work habits and potential for college-level achievement.
We accept applications and make distributions twice a year. Previous recipients may apply three more times for support as long as they demonstrate satisfactory completion of all coursework with a cumulative 2.5 GPA or better.
Learn more at rcma.org/scholarship.
