Jun 24, 2005

Shinoda Announces Scholarship WinnersSource: Shinoda Foundation

The Trustees of the Joseph Shinoda Memorial Scholarship Foundation have recently announced that six students will share the $15,000 in award funds for the 2005-2006 academic year. These Shinoda Scholarships are given to students studying floriculture, horticulture and related fields.

“We’re pleased to see students from across the country work toward a career in the horticulture industry,” said Paul Ecke, III, president of the Shinoda Foundation. “The Shinoda Foundation is honored to support their studies in a field that brings such satisfaction to us all.”

The recipients of the 2005-2006 Shinoda Scholarships are:

• $3,500 to senior Julia C. Brotton, 21, Bartlesville, Ok., horticulture major at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Ok.
• $3,000 to senior Ryan A. Pekarek, 21, Dwight, Neb., horticulture major at University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln, Neb.
• $3,000 to senior Natalie M. Thomas, 22, Riley, Ka., horticulture major at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Ka.
• $2,000 to senior Elizabeth L. Brown, 22, Red Bluff, Calif., environmental horticultural science major at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
• $2,000 to senior Matt A. Novak, 21, Modoc, Ka., horticulture major at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Ka.
• $1,500 to senior Jennifer K. Boldt, 22, Melbourne, Fla., environmental horticulture/business administration major at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla.

Ecke is pleased to announce additional funding in conjunction with the Shinoda Memorial Funds. “In addition to the $15,000 in scholarship awards, 10 percent of each scholarship will be sent to the awardees’ departments to help them encourage students to apply for the Shinoda Scholarships,” Ecke said. “For 2005-2006, that equals $1,500 going toward raising awareness among students of the Foundation’s scholarships and its mission.”

The Shinoda Foundation was established in 1964 under the auspices of the California State Florists’ Association in memory of the late Joseph Shinoda, a highly regarded pioneer of that state’s floral industry. The Foundation’s purpose is to encourage educational opportunities for young people interested in entering the industry. Incorporated as a separate entity in 1972, the foundation has awarded scholarships valued at over $644,000 to 579 undergraduate floriculture students since 1965.

Applications for the Shinoda Foundation’s scholarships are distributed each January to horticulture and floriculture departments at universities across the nation.

Information about making contributions to the Foundation or about its scholarship program can be obtained from its Internet site www.shinodascholarship.org or by writing to: Joseph Shinoda Memorial Scholarship Foundation Inc., 234 Via La Paz, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401.