Spring 2022 Hoggatt Injury Law Children of Injured Workers Scholarship Winner

Stefany Perez

For the Spring 2022 semester, we are honored to announce that Stefany Perez has been selected as our scholarship award recipient. Stefany’s scholarship essay exemplifies tenacity, dedication, and compassion through her desire to help others and utilize her higher education to make a positive impact in her community. After graduating, Stefany aims to become a history teacher, allowing her to share her passions with young students and provide the educational foundation she knows students need.

Read Stefany’s Essay:

My name is Stefany Perez and history has always fascinated me, since I was a young child I was always intrigued by topics such as the 60’s counterculture movement. Currently I am working towards my associates degree in history at Napa Valley College and I plan on transferring to Sacramento State University in the Fall of 2022. I plan on becoming a history teacher after I earn my bachelors and teaching credentials.

Neither of my parents finished middle school so it’s always been our goal for me to get my bachelors degree and start a career from it. I chose to major in history because of my ability to understand historical events and connect them towards issues that we face in the present. I think it’s important for people to have basic knowledge of historical events in order to gain knowledge for the future. With my bachelors in history I would like to become a secondary school teacher to help others understand the importance of history and to make a meaningful impact in their lives as well.

As a student in high school and middle school, I had many issues with retaining information and applying it to the work we did. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I had teachers that gave me the resources and guidance to help me in my studies. I am extremely grateful for these teachers and their confidence in my education. I plan on becoming a teacher because I want to guide other people in the same way I was guided. Teachers are foundations for the education that children receive and how they chose to pursue their life goals. Many of the interactions that children and teens have with their teachers while in K-12 can have a negative or positive impact on the rest of their lives. As a teacher, I would like to implement outreach programs to further help students in their communities and with their education. I would also like to further my own education while having a career as a teacher. I plan on receiving my Masters in History while teaching.

My parents have played a major role in my pursuit of a higher education. Throughout my entire childhood, they always told me to continue my education even if things got difficult. They immigrated to the United States after getting married in the hopes of giving their child a better future and the education they were unable to receive. It’s important to me that I make their sacrifices matter because they have sacrificed so much for me. Both of my parents have worked in various job fields in their lives but they both settled into agriculture here in Napa. They usually work all year round, 6 days a week on cold rainy days as well as blistering hot days. Even though they don’t talk about it, I’m aware of the mental and physical toll that this has taken on them after 20+ years. More than anything I would like to make them proud and be able to eventually provide for them when they need me to.

Even though I work part-time at a local hardware store as a sales associate/cashier, most of the money I have made has gone towards any college expenses I have had. I don’t tend to ask my parents for money for my education as I know that we don’t have much to spare. My mom was injured at her job last year and she has been unable to work since. It’s been a long process for her trying to heal and get back to her old self as she misses being able to work even though she’s unable to do so. This scholarship would help take the worry off of my parents back regarding my college education. I would like to be able to pay for as much of my own college as possible in order to help my parents not be burdened with it. It would allow me to achieve my goals of becoming a teacher and helping my community as I would use this money towards my college textbooks and tuition fees. I hope to have the ability to achieve my academic and career goals and have a positive impact on others.