For 25 years, CTA has awarded scholarships in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. to encourage ethnic minority students to become educators and promote professional growth for ethnic minority educators. Since its founding, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund has awarded nearly $1.5 million to more than 500 recipients to further those goals and work to address the shortage of ethnic minority educators in California — only one-third of California educators are ethnic minorities, compared with three-fourths of students statewide.

Scholarship recipients have been eager to follow in educators’ footsteps. “Just as my teacher shaped me into who I am, I want to do the same,” wrote Alyssa Gomez of an influential art teacher, in her winning application this past year. She also credited her mother, a longtime educator and CTA member, as a role model. During this Silver Anniversary year of the MLK Jr. Scholarship, CTA awarded 22 scholarships worth a total of $90,000 to CTA members, dependents of members, and Student CTA members.

The 2017-18 recipients are:

CTA Members (and chapter): Justine Almanza (Manteca EA); Lily Cooke (CTA of Berryessa); Rosanna McCormick (Monterey Bay TA); Roberto Moedano (Holtville TA); Seth Simas (Modesto TA).

Student CTA Members (and school): Irene Amezcua (CSU San Marcos); Brayden Campos (The Master’s University); Erin Githens (Chapman University); Alondra Guadarrama (Bakersfield College); Sherman Vernon (Fielding Graduate University).

Dependents of CTA Members (and chapter): Ilianna Delgado (Visalia Unified TA); Alexis Garcia (Vallejo EA); Alyssa Gomez (TA of Norwalk-La Mirada); Jasmin Gonzalez (Bakersfield Elementary TA); Jesus Gonzalez (Coachella Valley TA); Sabina Hills-Villalobos (Turlock TA); Grant Johnson (Panama-Buena Vista TA); Alexandria Nunez (Corcoran Faculty Association); Cameron Riefe (UTLA/NEA); Alexis Roman (Associated Chino Teachers); Cheyenne Torres (San Mateo Elementary TA); Isabella Wagner (Elk Grove EA).

The application deadline for the 2018-19 MLK Jr. Memorial Scholarships is Feb. 15. More information is available at cta.org/scholarships.