WATSONVILLE—Local artist Jessica Carrasco created the Born and Raised in Watsonville Scholarship last year to support youth while spreading positivity about her hometown.
And despite the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent school closures this year, Carrasco is determined to continue that mission.
That is why the deadline to apply for the $500 scholarship, which was originally mid-April, has been extended to May 18.
“Watsonville is a culturally rich, unique and vibrant community with wonderful people,” Carrasco said. “[I hope] to promote community pride… for those who live, work and grew up [here].”
The scholarship is funded through sales of Carrasco’s line of Watsonville-themed stickers. Three years ago, Carrasco started drafting her own logo: a piece depicting a deep-rooted strawberry plant. Since then, she has created several designs and sold them throughout the community.
Carrasco, winner of the Young Voter Art Contest 2018, had her work featured in this year’s voting materials and in several galleries across Santa Cruz County. Her work is part of Pajaro Valley Arts’ exhibit “Campesinos: Workers of the Land,” which is currently viewable at pvarts.org.
But Carrasco said that creating and funding the scholarship was a community effort. She had difficulty getting access to local events to sell her stickers at first, as many of the events in Watsonville were expensive to get a booth at.
“People would tell me, go sell in Santa Cruz, there’s more events and they don’t charge you a lot,” Carrasco said. “But my stickers represented Watsonville and I wanted Watsonville to rock them.”
A number of people, including Francisco Estrada, Wendy Hurst and Israel Tirado, organizations and businesses helped get her idea off the ground, Carrasco said. Revolunas and Aladdin Nursery were to giant supporters, she said.
“I met some amazing people who believed in my idea and the potential Watsonville has… if only we created more access to space and opportunities for artists,” she said.
Students can apply for the Born and Raised in Watsonville Scholarship if they are a current high school senior, live in Watsonville or surrounding areas and attend a Pajaro Valley Unified School District school. There is no GPA or Social Security requirement.
Students are asked to give general information, school transcripts and two letters of recommendation, plus respond to a few short-answer questions and one essay question.
Carrasco said it was important to her to offer the scholarship to students, despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
“I am sure many students are going to need it,” she said. “Many of them probably lost their jobs… and many of their parents are also not working and money might be tight. This scholarship is very important.”
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The scholarship is available to download at carrascoconcepts.com. For information email [email protected].
