(LOS ANGELES) — Kierstin Schmidt of Gladstone, Ore. and Toru Futamata of Monterey Park, Calif. each received $1,000 college scholarships from Unified Western Grocers for participating in the company's Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). The awards were presented to the students on August 17 at the farewell luncheons held in Commerce and Portland.
Winners were selected by their entries in an essay contest in which all of the participants wrote on the topic, "My Experience With The Summer Youth Employment Program At Unified Western Grocers." The essays were judged on a 100-point scale with 25 points as a possible score for each of the four criteria: content, presentation, experience at Unified Western Grocers and composition.
Schmidt, who graduated from Gladstone High School in Gladstone, Ore., worked in the Human Resources Department in Unified's Pacific Northwest Division headquarters in Portland. She is a freshman this fall at Washington and Lee University in Roanoke, Va. where she is planning to study chemistry.
Futamata is a senior at Schurr High School in Los Angeles and plans to attend UCLA next year to study computer science.
Other winners in the essay contest are Brian Moore, Estacada, Ore., a 2001 graduate of Gladstone High School; and Jenine Wood, Altadena, Calif., a senior at Manual Arts High School in Pasadena. Each of these students received a second-place award of $100. Omisha Tucker of Los Angeles received the third-place prize of $75. She is a 2001 graduate of Youth Opportunities Unlimited High School in Los Angeles.
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