The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara honored hundreds of area students at consecutive awards ceremonies this week.

More than 650 people attended the foundation’s South County Scholarship Awards Ceremony May 28 at the Courthouse Sunken Garden in Santa Barbara, and more than 750 people attended its North County Scholarship Awards Ceremony May 29 at the Santa Maria Fairpark Convention Center.

The annual events recognize new and returning Scholarship Foundation recipients. Attendees at each ceremony included students, parents, educators, and community leaders.

Scholarship Foundation Board chair Danna McGrew was a featured speaker at both events, along with Matt Rowe on May 28 and Ernesto Paredes on May 29. Rowe and Paredes are Santa Barbara Foundation trustees. 

The Santa Barbara Foundation contributed more than $900,000 in scholarship funds this year, and is one of the Scholarship Foundation’s largest partners.

This year, the Scholarship Foundation will award college and vocational scholarships totaling more than $7.7 million to 2,125 students throughout the county.

“Meeting our recipients and their families at these ceremonies is always an incredibly moving experience,” said Melinda Cabrera, Scholarship Foundation president/CEO, who addressed attendees at both ceremonies.

“We are proud to celebrate this milestone with them, and we are exceedingly grateful for the generous community support that enables us to award these scholarships,” she said.

The nonprofit Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara is the nation’s largest community-based provider of college scholarships, having cumulatively awarded in excess of $167 million to some 64,000 county students since its founding in 1962.

The Scholarship Foundation also provides free financial aid advising services.

For more, visit www.sbscholarship.org.