Pajaro Valley Pride Scholarship Recipients
Each year, Pajaro Valley Pride awards scholarships to students in our community based on their academic successes as well as their involvement in social justice activism, either on their school campus or in the community.
We want our young leaders to thrive and we want to support them by providing some of the resources needed to help achieve their long-term goals.
Scroll down to meet some of the amazing young leaders in our community.
Natalya Hammond (she/her)
2024 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1000 scholarship to Natalya Hammond for her contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
My name is Natalya Hammond, I’m 17 years old and will be attending SJSU in the fall as an incoming Freshman. I love learning and I am excited for college. I am from Watsonville, CA which is located in the southern part of Santa Cruz County. When I’m at SJSU I will be living on campus, just as my parents did back in the 1990’s when they attended SJSU and lived in Allen Hall. I’m looking forward to making new friends and strong connections while pursuing my dream career in Library Science. I graduated from Aptos High School (class of 2024) with honors and I’m already working part time in my field of study. In addition to my love of learning, I like to make jewelry, collect enamel pins, and play video games to unwind. I’m also an excellent baker, and enjoy crafting.
Lilia Lopez-Arango (she/her)
2024 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1000 scholarship to Lilia Lopez-Arango for her contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
I graduated from Watsonville High School, where I served as co-president of the Gender Sexuality Alliance. Our primary goal was to create a safe space within our school and to inspire others to be true to themselves. I am now heading to UC San Diego to study neurobiology, with the aspiration of attending medical school to become a doctor. My overall goal is to provide support and to advocate for inclusive, affordable, and accessible healthcare for all. This scholarship will help cover my tuition, allowing me to further my education and achieve my career objectives
Josalyn Wilkerson (she/they)
2024 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1000 scholarship to Josalyn Wilkerson for their contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
My name is Josalyn, I am a Delta High School graduate who is excited to further my education. I will be continuing my education at Cabrillo College where I’ll be studying environmental science. I enjoy many things like art, science, and learning new things.
Aiko Salinas (they/them)
2023 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1200 scholarship to Aiko Salinas for their contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
Aiko is a 2023 Delta Charter High School graduate, who had joined Delta’s QSA in their first year of high school hoping to find community. It was during the peak of Covid-19, which had distanced everyone both physically and emotionally, that they found comfort in being among peers who could understand them. They wanted to recreate that feeling of community so they took every opportunity to learn leadership skills with the clubs provided within their school and other outside programs. Aiko became a Leadership member, which they helped turn into an interactive club with the help of the Rotary Club during their final year at Delta.
They are also a part of FoodWhat?!, a food justice youth organization as a junior staff member. They will be attending Cabrillo College in hopes of bringing kindness into the medical field as a phlebotomist. “I still want to take every chance to learn leadership skills, because there is always something new to learn.”
Lucía Umeki-Martinez (they/she/he)
2022 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1,500 scholarship to Lucia Umeki-Martinez for their contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
Lucía is a recipient of the 2022 Queer Youth Leadership Awards, the PG&E George Kronenberger Memorial eQuality Scholarship, the 2021-22 ASB Co-President of Watsonville High School, the 2021-22 President of Watsonville High's Sexuality and Gender Acceptance Club, and they are also an intern with the Safe Schools Project of Santa Cruz County. They worked hard to create more inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA+ students at Watsonville High and the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. As a result of their advocacy, they were able to keep the pride flag raised at Watsonville High as well as create more gender-neutral bathrooms on their campus for gender non-conforming students. They will be attending UC Berkeley full-time in the fall where they hope to study Sociology with the goal of becoming an educator.
Adrian Elizalde (he/him)
2021 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1,250 scholarship to Adrian Elizalde for his contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
Adrian graduated from Watsonville High School in the top 10% of his grade while also being an active member of the Queer community. He was a member of the SAGA club, regularly volunteered for PV Pride events, and is currently an intern for PVUSD Students Deserve. Heading to Yale for his freshman year this August, he hopes to become a creative writer and create more representation for not only Queer people in media, but other underrepresented people as well
Jeydon Hernandez-Cordero (he/they)
2021 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1,250 scholarship to Jeydon Hernandez-Cordero for their contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
Jeydon is recipient of the 2020 Queer Youth Leadership Award, former member of the Queer Youth Task Force and Queer and Trans Youth Council of Santa Cruz County and a leader in his school’s QSA at Delta High. He worked with the Department of Public Health on a gender training for sex educators in the community and sat on panels to speak about his experience as a trans person of color. Jeydon will be attending Cabrillo College as a full time student in the fall of 2021 and his major is Pre-Med. He plans to be an OB/GYN to provide better support to the queer and trans community around reproductive health care.
Sophia Elizalde (she/her)
2019 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $2,000 scholarship to Sophia Elizalde for her contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
Sophia graduated Watsonville High school with a 4.3 GPA and was named Valedictorian. She will be attending Yale University in the Fall where she plans to pursue a career in government and education. “I believe that everyone should have access to a quality education no matter your socioeconomic background,” Sophia says. “I hope to bring what I learn in college back to my community as a sort of educational Robin Hood.”
Aryana Flores (she/her)
2018 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1,000 scholarship to Aryana Flores for her contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
Ary graduated from Watsonville High School in 2018 and now attends CSUMB. She said that the funds helped relieve the stress of paying for school. “The scholarship paid off the rest of the money I owed for my first semester of college. And it made me very thankful because I was stressing so much - wondering how I was gonna to pay it off.”
Isa Moreno (they/them)
2017 Recipient
Pajaro Valley Pride awarded a $1,000 scholarship to Isa Moreno for their contributions to the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
They graduated Watsonville High School in 2017. Isa was very active in school and community organizations which they now continue at UCLA.