Hancock student Calista Freeland (center) accepts the prestigious Marian Scholarship during the Allan Hancock College Foundation’s annual scholarship awards with AHC Superintendent President Kevin G. Walthers, Ph.D. (left) and Jon Hooten, Ph.D., executive director of college advancement and the AHC Foundation (right). Courtesy photo.
SANTA MARIA — Students and donors gathered at the Joe White Memorial Gymnasium on May 23 to celebrate the Allan Hancock College Foundation’s annual?scholarship?awards.
This year, the Foundation awarded 496?scholarships totaling $582,290 to 345 Allan Hancock College students.
“The Foundation continues to expand our ability to serve Hancock’s students, and tonight is evidence of that,” said Jon Hooten, Ph.D., executive director of college advancement and the AHC Foundation. “Congratulations to each and every one of these students who earned these awards.”
Calista Freeland received the prestigious Marian Hancock?Scholarship. Named in honor of the late wife of Captain G. Allan Hancock, the $10,000?scholarship?is awarded to one outstanding student each year who exemplifies service to the school, scholastic achievement and personal conduct.?Freeland?is the 60th student to win the Marian Hancock?Scholarship?since 1967.
Freeland is graduating from Hancock with an associate degree for transfer in English. An avid reader from a young age, Freeland turned her love of the written word into a passion for education and community service. In addition to working as an English tutor at Hancock, Freeland is also an active member of the college’s Poetry and Prose Club, served as a fiction editor for Hancock’s literary journal Harvest and helped develop the AHC Library’s first “Kid’s Corner” event, which allowed students with children to use the library while their children were monitored and entertained with activities.
In addition, Freeland is also a member of the college’s ASTRA Club, a community service-based group that created care packages for the homeless and provided fun craft projects to more than 200 children at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall. Freeland plans to attend a four-year university with the goal of becoming an English teacher.
“I want to encourage young people to find the beauty in the escape that reading and writing provides. More importantly, though, I want to work with young people in this formative period of their lives, providing them with a positive, encouraging environment that so many students do not have at home,” Freeland said. “I am incredibly thankful for the support that my English teachers provided in my final years of high school, and I want to provide others with the experience that I had.”
Hancock 2024 graduate and outgoing Associated Student Body Government (ASBG) President Samantha Martinez also spoke at the event, congratulating this year’s scholarship recipients.
“This night is dedicated to your success,” Martinez said.
Martinez was also named the inaugural recipient of the Daane Award for Integrity in Leadership, presented in honor of longtime Foundation board member and previous president Maggi Daane, who died in 2023.
A scholarship committee comprised of 14 Hancock faculty, staff and Foundation board members chose this year’s recipients from more than 700 applications. The Allan Hancock College Foundation has been a resource for thousands of Allan Hancock College students since 1977. The Foundation has raised funds over the years that have changed lives through education by touching every aspect of the college’s life, including scholarships, programs, projects and faculty and staff development.