Scholarship Winners Announced Across Hormel Foods Family of Companies

Scholarship Winners Announced Across Hormel Foods Family of Companies

• Hormel Foods Inspired Pathways

  Approximately four years ago, Hormel Foods established Inspired Pathways, a program designed to offer the opportunity of a college degree to all dependents of our team members and to create the kind of generational change that comes from education.

  We are proud this year to congratulate the first graduating class of Inspired Pathways. In addition to these 29 outstanding young people, hundreds more are taking advantage of advisement sessions, workshops, financial aid guidance and tuition grants.

• Kylee Berget child of Kevin Berget (Willmar (Minnesota) Plant); Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minnesota
• Jadyn Collis child of Jason Collis (Logistic Service, LLC (Eldridge, Iowa)); Black Hawk Community College in Moline, Illinois
• Dat Dang child of Truong Dang (Dold Foods (Wichita, Kansas)); Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas
• Vanessa Escatel child of Victoria Escatel (Rochelle (Illinois) Foods); Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby, Illinois
• Michael Galvez child of Robin Galvez (Osceola (Iowa) Food); Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa
• Alexandra Hoover child of Brandy Hoover (Algona (Iowa) Plant) and Andrew Hoover; Des Moines Area Community College in Des Moines, Iowa
• Dayton Hopp child of Robert Hopp (Fort Smith (Arkansas) Plant); University of Arkansas - Fort Smith in Fort Smith, Arkansas
• Avery Hubbard child of Kristal Hubbard (Barron (Wisconsin) Plant); Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire, Wisconsin
• Cole Jerdee child of Tammy Jerdee (Corporate Office (Austin, Minnesota)); Lake Area Technical College in Watertown, South Dakota
• Raenah Kaisner child of Randall Kaisner (Willmar (Minnesota) Plant); Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Fergus Falls, Minnesota
• Juan Matias child of Maria Juan Francisco (Austin (Minnesota) Plant); Riverland Community College in Austin, Minnesota
• Pablo Moedano child of Emiliano Moedano (Willmar (Minnesota) Plant); Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minnesota
• Luciana Monroy child of Santos Monroy (Rochelle (Illinois) Foods); Kishwaukee College in Malta, Illinois
• Jeb Nelsen child of Matthew Nelsen (Applegate (Bedminster, New Jersey)); Ozarks Technical Community College in Springfield, Missouri
• Rosalia Ortiz child of Lilia Rodriguez Partida (Dan's Prize Long Prairie (Minnesota) Plant); Alexandria Technical & Community College in Alexandria, Minnesota
• Alli Park child of Katrina Scheve (Dan's Prize Browerville (Minnesota) Plant); Central Lakes College in Brainerd, Minnesota
• Landon Price child of Lance Price (Bentonville (Arkansas) Sales Office); NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, Arkansas
• Braiden Rasmussen child of Duane Rasmussen (Austin (Minnesota) Plant); Riverland Community College in Austin, Minnesota
• Jonathan Reuter child of Kasandra Reuter (Progressive Processing (Dubuque, Iowa)); Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in Fennimore, Wisconsin
• Garett Schaefer child of Timothy Schaefer (Austin (Minnesota) Plant); Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Worthington, Minnesota
• Paige Schmitz child of Debra Schmitz (Jennie-O Corporate Office (Willmar, Minnesota)); Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minnesota
• Andrea Sickels child of Andrew Sickels (Osceola (Iowa) Plant) and Kathi Sickels; Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa
• Janica Skjerly child of Meagen Skjerly (Barron (Wisconsin) Plant); Northwood Technical College in Rice Lake, Wisconsin
• Elijah Storch child of Pamela Storch (Montevideo (Minnesota) Plant); Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Worthington, Minnesota
• Jett Swenson child of Heidi Swenson (Corporate Office (Austin, Minnesota)); Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota
• Joshua Venenga child of Lachelle Venenga (Jennie-O Corporate Office (Willmar, Minnesota)); Alexandria Technical & Community College in Alexandria, Minnesota
• Jordyn Williamson child of Eric Williamson (Corporate Office (Austin, Minnesota)); Riverland Community College in Austin, Minnesota
• Jordan Wood child of Thomas Rackley (Skippy Foods (Little Rock, Arkansas)); University of Arkansas - Pulaski Technical College in Little Rock, Arkansas
• Brycen Wookey child of Shelly Wookey (Osceola (Iowa) Food); Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon, Iowa

• Hormel Foods Charitable Trust Scholarship

  Continuing its support of higher education, Hormel Foods awarded college scholarships for the 58th consecutive year to children of current, retired or deceased team members of the company and its subsidiaries. The scholarships were awarded through the company's charitable trust to select high school seniors entering college in the fall of 2024.

  Hormel Foods has provided funds for the scholarship program since 1966. Scholarship recipients are selected each year by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), an independent, not-for-profit organization based in Evanston, Illinois. NMSC's goal is to help academically talented students obtain college scholarships. Scholarship recipients must meet stringent NMSC requirements, which include scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, scholarship abilities, involvement in school and community activities, and leadership qualities.

• Mackenzie Andrews attends Austin High School in Austin, Minnesota. She is the child of Brian Andrews, development leader for product development at R&D (Austin, Minnesota) and Jill Andrews, director of finance - supply chain at the Corporate Office (Austin, Minnesota).
• Arden Clem attends Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He is the child of Chad Clem, manager of R&D, FSQA and PMO at Applegate (Bedminster, New Jersey) and Reema Persad-Clem.
• Jenna Collins attends Liberty High School in Renton, Washington. She is the child of Scott Collins, category development manager for Retail, home office (Renton, Washington).
• Sydney Collis attends Erie High School in Erie, Illinois. She is the child of Jason Collis, superintendent at Logistic Service, LLC (Eldridge, Iowa).
• Lydia Drees attends Drees Catholic Homeschool in Austin, Minnesota. She is the child of Arlo Drees, applications development analyst at the Corporate Office (Austin, Minnesota).
• Sydney Seebecker attends Algona High School in Algona, Iowa. She is the child of Anthony Seebecker, production manager for dry sausage at the Algona (Iowa) Plant.
• Ella Wieland attends New London-Spicer High School in New London, Minnesota. She is the child of Mary Wieland, innovation manager at Jennie-O Corporate Office (Willmar, Minnesota).
• Grayson Witt attends Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. He is the child of Nicolle Witt, customer business manager for Albertsons and Safeway at Denver (Colorado) Sales Office.

• Jennie-O Golden Excellence Scholarship

  The Jennie-O Golden Excellence Scholarship Program began 41 years ago. Since that time, 106 children of team members have received Golden Excellence Scholarships totaling approximately $500,000. Scholarship recipients must be pursuing a four-year degree and will receive $1,500 per year for four years. Recipient rankings are provided by Southwest Initiative Foundation.

• Eduardo Raya-Barrera - child of Arely Barrera Maldonado and Everardo Raya Becerra Eduardo graduated from Sauk Centre High School (Minnesota). He plans to attend Alexandria Technical & Community College and then transfer to a four-year college to obtain an engineering degree. Eduardo's mother, Arely, works at the Melrose (Minnesota) Plant
  as an injector operator and has been with the company for five years.
• Adam Sandau - child of Michael and Kay Sandau Adam graduated from New London-Spicer High School (Minnesota). He plans to attend the University of Minnesota Twin Cities to major in biological science. Adam's father, Michael, has been with the company for 18 years and works at the Jennie-O Corporate Office (Willmar, Minnesota) as an infrastructure analyst.

• Jennie-O $1,000 Scholarship

  In addition to the recipients of the Jennie-O Golden Excellence Scholarships, the following high school graduates were awarded $1,000 Jennie-O Continuing Education Scholarships. The Jennie-O team awarded $53,000 in scholarships to team members and their children this year.

  The selection of these recipients was made by Southwest Initiative Foundation and was based on an overall evaluation of academics, a written essay and letters of recommendation.

• Asiya Abdi (Abdihakim Wardere, Faribault (Minnesota) Plant)
• Zuhur Abdullahi (Nimo Awnur, Faribault (Minnesota) Plant)
• Rose Alamo (Lili Alamo, Willmar (Minnesota) Plant)
• Charles Amoako (Moses Amoako, Faribault (Minnesota) Plant)
• Hannah Callow (Tillie Callow, live production)
• Liyi Chen (Boli Chen and Yuying Wen, Faribault (Minnesota) Plant)
• Susana Coronado (Jose Coronado, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Edwin Diaz (Jose Alfredo Diaz, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Sarai Diaz (Jose Diaz, Willmar (Minnesota) Plant)
• Alex Featherly (Ashley Mattie, Barron (Wisconsin) Plant)
• Jessica Franco (Marisol Nava, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Kaylee Haas (Kristin Haas, Barron (Wisconsin) Plant)
• Summer Hammann (Scot Hammann, grower)
• Hashim Hassan (Ahmed Aden, Barron (Wisconsin) Plant)
• Nasteho Hassan (Idil Halane, Faribault (Minnesota) Plant)
• Moises Hidalgo (Joel Hidalgo-Lira, Montevideo (Minnesota) Plant)
• Nathan Humphrey* (team member, live production)
• Abdiaziz Ibrahim(Farah Elmi, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Kimberly Jackson-Hayden (Benjamin Hayden, Barron (Wisconsin) Plant)
• Leyna Kim (Dao Thach, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Emily Kohl (Linda Kohl, live production)
• Lilly Kunkel* (Jake and Renee Kunkel, live production)
• Keyla Maciel (Rosa Maciel, Willmar (Minnesota) Plant)
• Ashlynn Mark* (team member, live production)
• Jacqueline Martinez Torres (Leticia Martinez, Faribault (Minnesota) Plant)
• Michel Martinez (Luis Martinez, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Erick Mejia (Bertha Mejia Diaz, Willmar (Minnesota) Plant)
• Grady Minnerath (Glen and Aimee Minnerath, grower)
• Thomas Mitchell (Brad Mitchell, grower)
• Gavriel Montalvo (Andres and Gladys Montalvo, Barron (Wisconsin) Plant)
• Noe Moreno (Evangelina Moreno, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Jasmine Morlock* (Brad Galoff, live production)
• Omar Odawa (Khadra Guled, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• James Olson (Craig Olson, grower)
• Amino Oyow (Saharo Abdi, Faribault (Minnesota) Plant)
• Chelsey Perez (Antonio Perez, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Angel Rios (Eduardo Rios, Willmar (Minnesota) Plant)
• Claudia Rivas (Ivan Garcia, live production)
• Peter Thammavongsa (Dome Thammavongsa, Pelican Rapids (Minnesota) Plant)
• Ethan Trzcinko (Jessica Trzcinko, Jennie-O Corporate Office (Willmar, Minnesota))
• Selicia Williams* (team member, live production)

* also a team member

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