CAC graduate is awarded $25,000 scholarship from the USDA

April 11, 2017

Thomas R. Throssell

Gila River Indian News

Gila River Indian Community member and recent Central Arizona College (CAC) graduate, Rochelle Ranger, was awarded a $25,000 Project Puente Scholarship, which will help pay for college tuition, books, supplies, and other academic related opportunities.

According to a CAC news release, the Project Puente Scholarship, a Hispanic Serving Institutions Higher Education Grant provided by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), is awarded to students who are seen as future graduates capable of improving the United State’s agricultural workforce.

“Through grant funding made available to CAC from the … USDA, the college sought out applicants for its Project Puente student scholarship opportunity this fall,” said CAC Grant Coordinator, Marshall Logvin. “We received excellent applications from students for the scholarship and seven students received interviews. Though all interviewees performed well, the scholarship committee unanimously recommended Ms. Rochelle Ranger,” he said.

Ranger, who hails from Bapchule in District 5, received her Associate of General Studies Degree, Associate of Business Degree, and AGEC Business Certificate at CAC, and completed two internships with the USDA and the Arid Land Agricultural Research Center.

She is continuing her education at the University of Arizona where she will major in Agribusiness Economics and Management in the school’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“My career goal includes completing my bachelor’s degree and returning to my community to help manage and improve our farming enterprise,” Ranger said in the news release. “My cultural heritage, which is deeply rooted in agriculture, has inspired me to take this career path. Other inspiration comes from personal education electives as well as my previous employment at my tribe’s farming enterprise.”

“The USDA/NIFA scholarship is going to help me continue my education through financial means, as well as require very high standards of me throughout my college education,” said Ranger. “This scholarship is also very important to me because it shows that others acknowledge my pursuit and dedication to education and agriculture,” stated Ranger in the news release.