2019 Pepsi Grant for Student Competitions

Four APS schools now have a total of $20,527.26 to help their students attend national and international competitions thanks to Pepsi and the APS Education Foundation.

The APS Education Foundation Pepsi Grant helps to reduce costs for students who have earned the opportunity to represent their peers, school, district and the State of New Mexico in a regional, state, national and international competition. Funding for this grant was provided by Pepsi Co.

The Foundation received a tremendous response, which included nine applications requesting nearly $70,000 towards travel to California, Florida, Kentucky and Washington, D.C.

Grant Winners

Highland High School

• Award Amount: $5,563.63
• Student Organization: Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)

Highland High FCCLA competed at the State FCCLA Conference on March 21-23 in Albuquerque. All of the Highland competitors qualified for nationals. The chapter brought back 17 gold medals and two silver medals, winning the NMAA 2019 State Championship.

The Pepsi Grant will enable students to compete at Nationals in Anaheim, Calif., on June 30-July 5. Highland is the only APS school that qualified for Nationals and will be the only APS school representing New Mexico at the national FCCLA level.

Highland High School

• Award Amount: $5,563.63
• Student Organization: DECA

26 Highland High School DECA students qualified for the international DECA competition in Orlando, Fla. At this competition, there will be approximately 20,000 high school students. This opportunity is a life-changing event for many of the students, who will be able to see their view of the world expanded and challenged for the first time in their lives.

Manzano High School

• Award Amount: $4,000
  Student Organization: Educators Rising

The Manzano High School chapter of Educators Rising participated and competed in the state Educators Rising conference. Five students qualified for the national conference that will take place in Dallas, Texas, on June 22-25. Funds will be used to help cover the cost of travel, lodging and the registration fee for students to attend the national conference.

Cibola High School

• Award Amount: $5,400.00
• Student Organization: International Robotics Competition

Three students from the Cibola High School Robotic Team qualified for the 2019 Vex Robotics World Championship, an international Robotics Competition, held in Louisville, Ken. Funds will be used to purchase flights for each student and one adviser, lodging for the five nights, a registration fee for the tournament, and to ship robotic equipment and materials to the event.

In addition to funding, students received award winner t-shirts and a Pepsi Award Winner decal to display at their school.