Edison Scholar Shows Girls Can Be Engineers Too
Jennifer Villacis was recently awarded a $40,000 Edison Scholars award that will help pave her way to USC.
Jennifer Villacis remembers the day when students in her sixth-grade class presented their “what-I-want-to-be” projects. When her turn came, Jennifer said she wanted to be an engineer, a dream her Ecuadorian mother had, but was never able to achieve.
“I saw this guy in the corner of the room say, ‘Oh, girls aren’t good in math. They can’t be engineers,’” she recalled. The other boys all laughed.
Jennifer, who has always been good in math, proved them wrong. She will enter USC this fall as a civil engineering major with the help of a $40,000 Edison Scholars award.
Edison International, parent company of Southern California Edison (SCE), created the scholarships to help minority, low-income and underrepresented Southern California students who want to major in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). The money is paid over four years.
Jennifer, a Pomona Catholic Girls High School student, was among 30 high school seniors out of nearly 2,800 applicants to be awarded one of this year’s scholarships.
For more stories on Edison Scholars and other Edison news, visit Edison's Online Newsroom.
