For the 3rd time in 4 years, an outstanding Hartnell College student has received the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, one of only 100 awarded nationwide based on academic achievement, financial need, persistence and leadership.
The new recipient is 2022 graduate Jane Sanchez Hernandez of Castroville. She learned of her selection on May 9 – and two days later received a letter of acceptance to attend Stanford University, beginning this fall. She was chosen for the prestigious Cooke award from among 440 semifinalists, narrowed from nearly 1,200 applicants at 332 community colleges in 35 states. Twenty-seven of the final 100 are from California.
As a Cooke Scholar, Hernandez will receive up to $55,000 per year to cover educational expenses such as tuition, housing, books and required fees as she completes her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Stanford. Cooke Transfer Scholars also receive one-on-one educational advising and are eligible for internship and graduate school funding from the foundation, and they are welcomed into the Cooke community and network.
Hernandez is the 2021-22 president of the Associated Students of Hartnell College (ASHC) and this year’s student trustee for the Hartnell Community College District Governing Board. She also is one of 34 valedictorians in the Class of 2022, with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, and was selected to deliver an address at Commencement on May 20. She is receiving associate degrees in psychology, Spanish and liberal arts.
Hernandez has continually credited what she calls her “support system” of Hartnell administrators, faculty and staff for her personal growth and the ability to compete for an award of this magnitude.
“I’ve always felt like my community trusts me, and by ‘community’ I mean Hartnell,” she said. “With a national scholarship, I just feel committed not only to Hartnell but to the whole nation. I feel more committed to thrive because I have people who believe in me.”
Starting with her previous role as ASHC vice president in 2020-21, Hernandez has championed student engagement at Hartnell throughout the pandemic, advocating for online students and leading such initiatives as a new monthly newsletter, a student food pantry and distribution of free feminine hygiene products. In addition, she has been a student worker for several college offices and programs.
“We are incredibly proud of Jane and thrilled for her to receive this great honor and generous financial support,” said Erica Padilla-Chavez, president of the Hartnell Community College District Governing Board. “She has more than earned this scholarship, and we have every confidence that she will make the most of this opportunity in the years to come.”
Hernandez has overcome many challenges on her journey to higher education. Growing up in a low-income farmworker family in the Coachella Valley, she left home without a high school diploma, did field work, escaped an abusive marriage that brought her to Castroville and experienced homelessness. She refined her educational goals and discovered her full potential at Hartnell amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her long-term goal is to complete a doctorate in applied psychology and then work in administrative roles at a community college, like Hartnell, that serves a large population of first-generation students, with the ultimate aim of becoming the top executive at such a college.
Manuel Bersamin, director of the SSS/TRiO program for underserved students, said he has been especially impressed by Hernandez’s ability to encourage and mentor fellow students, particularly young women.
“Because of her earlier experiences, Jane can see in them the same lack of confidence, sense of inferiority and sense of imposter syndrome that she suffered and sometimes still experiences,” Bersamin wrote in his letter of recommendation for her Cooke scholarship.
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