Photo by Samantha Bengtson
Rosie Barroso plans to study agricultural business at UC Davis.
SOLEDAD — Soledad High School senior Rosie Barroso is the recipient of a $20,000 Lucille Miller Scholarship from Girls Inc. International.
The Lucille Miller Scholarship through Girls Inc. is offered to youth leaders or girls who have been through the Girls Inc. program and are now working as a youth leader running programs. The scholarship was offered to about 10 female high school students who then filled out an application.
“Girls Inc. gave me a social circle,” Barroso said. “I used to be a very introverted person during freshman year. Then sophomore year I grew out of it a little bit and then Girls Inc. was presented to us at the end of sophomore year.”
Barroso signed up to join the program her junior year.
“It was a group of 35 girls and we just talked about topics,” she said. “Sometimes we were there to learn our lessons and get a different perspective on it, but it was a comfortable space.”
Girls Inc. also presented Barroso with the opportunity to work with PG&E in solar energy this past year. Barroso traveled to Ecuador to install solar panels for 12 days. This was the first mission Barroso had ever been on.
“It was life changing to see the improvement it could make,” Barroso said.
Scholarship applicants were told to write four essays about Girls Inc. and how it has changed them, the impact and what they want to use the knowledge for in the future. Barroso said writing was not one of her strengths, but she put her heart and dedication into the four essays. The writing process for Barroso included a lot of revisions and critiques that came back after every rewrite.
After turning in her final draft, Barroso took a sigh of relief and said after hearing from the other applicants, she didn’t think she was going to be chosen for the scholarship.
“For me, going to college is really hard on my family financially,” Barroso said. “I knew maybe I wanted to do CSUMB or Hartnell for the first year and then transfer. But with this scholarship I could broaden my options if I really wanted to.”
In researching other campuses and finances, Barroso saw a small difference in price between California State University Monterey Bay and the University of California Davis. Barroso also received a grant from UC Davis, and with the scholarship she felt confident to go for UC Davis. Barroso plans to study agricultural business in managerial economics.
“I really want to come back and give back to the community for what they have given me,” she said.
Barroso will be the first in her family to go to college and is an honor student at Soledad High School.
