National Scholar Heads to New York

Carpinteria High School senior Ana Delgado will be heading to New York to speak at the March 7 Girls Inc. National Luncheon — which will honor Hillary Clinton — and receive recognition for her $20,000 National Scholars Program award.

Delgado hopes to attend Brown University, joining her sister Andrea on the East Coast where she attends Harvard, also with a National Scholars award. Ana has been part of Girls Inc. of Carpinteria since she was in kindergarten. “I don’t have a definite career in mind, but Girls Inc. has inspired my interest in women’s rights and advocating for what I believe in,” she said. “I’ve made it my personal mission to be a voice for women and minorities and to remind people that we are all equal and deserving.”

As well as participating in student government, band, and water polo, Delgado is part of Girls Inc.’s Eureka! Program, which took her to Washington, D.C., where she became interested in public policy. She intends to major in political science with a minor in Latin American or media studies.

Delgado’s grandfather was the first in the family to emigrate to the United States, coming from Mexico as part of the bracero program; he desired an education but had to work in the strawberry and cotton fields instead. In a piece Delgado wrote in praise of the Eureka! Program, she said her grandfather “instilled in his own children the value an education and hard work could bring.” With her parents both working full-time, Girls Inc. offered a “safe, nurturing” after-school program for her and her sisters, she said, with the theater program providing an avenue for her to overcome her youthful shyness.

In the National Scholars Program’s history, 20 young women from Carpinteria have been named to the prestigious group, who are recognized for academic achievement and community service. Nine women nationwide received the $20,000 award this year. Delgado is one of four who have been asked to speak at the luncheon.