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Scholarship Winners Announced Across Hormel Foods Family of Companies

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Hormel Foods is proud to support the children of team members on their journey to further their education.

National Merit Winners:

Hormel Foods awarded college scholarships for the 56th consecutive year to children of current, retired and 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 2022. 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, Ill. NMSC’s goal is to help academically talented students obtain college scholarships. Scholarship recipients must meet stringent NMSC requirements, which include a high score on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, scholarship abilities, involvement in school and community activities, and leadership qualities.

Kamryn Berglund
Kamryn attends Austin High School in Austin, Minn. She is the daughter of Sheryl and Darin Berglund, supervisor of cost analysts at the Corporate Office (Austin, Minn.).

Jadyn Collis
Jadyn attends Erie High School in Erie, Ill. She is the daughter of Rebecca and Jason Collis, lead warehouse supervisor, Logistic Services Incorporated (Eldridge, Iowa).

Jaida Dodson
Jaida attends Mauston High School in Mauston, Wis. She is the daughter of Julie Siebecker and Jammy Dodson, master scheduler at Century Foods International (Sparta, Wis.).

Caitlin Drees
Caitlin attends Pacelli High School in Austin, Minn. She is the daughter of Peggy and Neil Drees, retired IT manager at the Corporate Office (Austin, Minn.).

Autumn Grensing
Autumn attends Chetek Weyerhaeuser High School in Chetek, Wis. She is the daughter of Melissa Grensing, accounts payable secretary at Jennie-O Barron (Wis.) Plant, and Mark Grensing , supervisor at Jennie-O Barron Plant.

Noelani Hsia
Noelani attends Campolindo High School in Moraga, Calif. She is the daughter of Marcie and Henry Hsia, director of marketing at Columbus Craft Meats (Hayward, Calif.).

Larisa Judy
Larisa attends Blooming Prairie High School in Blooming Prairie, Minn. She is the daughter of Luke and Brenda Judy, credit analyst at the Corporate Office (Austin, Minn.).

Paul Moellers
Paul attends Catholic High School for Boys in Little Rock, Ark. He is the son of Robert Moellers , manager of industrial engineering at Skippy Foods (Little Rock, Ark.).

Haley Peterson
Haley attends Saint Ansgar High School in St. Ansgar, Iowa. She is the daughter of DeAnne and Aaron Peterson, manager of human resources at the Austin (Minn.) Plant.

Ella Quam
Ella attends Stewartville High School in Stewartville, Minn. She is the daughter of Lisa and Eldon Quam, assistant controller at the Corporate Office (Austin, Minn.).

Amie West
Amie attends Cumberland High School in Cumberland, Wis. She is the daughter of Bruce and Victoria West, farm manager for Jennie-O live production.

Jennie-O Golden Excellence Scholarship Program:

The Jennie-O Golden Excellence Scholarship Program began 39 years ago. Since that time, 102 children of team members have received Golden Excellence Scholarships totaling more than $470,000. 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. This year’s recipients are:

Tony Luo – son of Jian Luo and Rui Chen
Tony graduated from Faribault High School (Minnesota). He plans to attend the University of Minnesota Twin Cities to study mechanical engineering. Tony’s parents are Jian Luo and Rui Chen. His mother, Rui, works at the Jennie-O Faribault (Minn.) Plant in the Kpak Department. She has been with the company since 2014.

Kesha Palmquist – daughter of Debbie Benson
Kesha graduated from Barron High School (Wisconsin). She will be pursuing an animal science degree at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Kesha is the daughter of Debbie Benson, who works at the Jennie-O Barron (Wis.) Plant as an export customer service specialist. She is approaching her 35-year anniversary with the company.

Jennie-O $1,000 scholarship recipients:

In addition to the recipients of the Hormel Foods Charitable Trust Scholarships and the two Jennie-O Golden Excellence Scholarships, the following high school graduates received $1,000 awards. Recipients were selected by the Southwest Initiative Foundation, based on an overall evaluation of academics, a written essay and letters of recommendation.

Cristian Abarca (Eulojio Perez and Maria Abarca , West Central Turkeys (Pelican Rapids, Minn.))
Saida Adan (Yusuf Omar, Jennie-O Faribault (Minn.) Plant)
Diego Aguirre Martinez (Edgardo Aguirre, Jennie-O Faribault (Minn.) Plant)
Sabrina Ali (Anab Farah, West Central Turkeys)
Anthony Alonzo (Daniel and Ashley Alonzo, Jennie-O Willmar Ave. Plant (Willmar, Minn.))
Kylee Berget (Kevin Berget, Jennie-O Willmar Ave. Plant)
Awalow Bundid (team member, Jennie-O Barron (Wis.) Plant)
Sebastian Centeno-Torres (Alfredo Centeno Romero and Eva Centeno, West Central Turkeys)
Kaydie Cloutier (Kimberly Cloutier, Jennie-O Corporate Office (Willmar, Minn.))
Alexia Dietz (Jason Olson, Jennie-O Corporate Office)
Sadie Gillespie (Jeff Gillespie, Jennie-O Corporate Office)
Adnan Hajji-Mohamed (Adar Ibrahim, Jennie-O Faribault Plant)
Raenah Kaisner (Randy Kaisner, live production)
Abigail Kanz (Darin Brand, live production)
Colin Kappel (team member, Jennie-O Barron Plant)
Aniso Khalif (Abdiaziz Olow, Jennie-O Willmar Ave. Plant)
Briana Klabunde (Tammi Klabunde, Jennie-O Barron Plant)
Abdikeyr Kosar (Amran Guled, Jennie-O Faribault Plant )
Mattea Larson (Ross Larson, Jennie-O Corporate Office)
Quade Larson* (Todd Larson, live production)
Victoria Livingston (Teri Livingston, Jennie-O Barron Plant)
Julissa Lomas (Juan Lomas, Jennie-O Willmar Ave. Plant)
Andrea Martinez (Edvin and Immer Martinez, Jennie-O Faribault Plant)
Alyssa McCullough (Rebecca McCullough, live production)
Hani Mohamed Sahardid (Rahmo Mursal, Jennie-O Faribault Plant)
Irene Mursu (Peter Mursu, live production)
Quinn Nelson (Lisa L. Nelson, Jennie-O Corporate Office)
Fartun Odawa (Khadra Guled , West Central Turkeys)
Lisbeth Pantoja* (Maria Pantoja, West Central Turkeys)
Julianna Perez (Antonio Perez, West Central Turkeys)
Michael Philipps (Chad and Heather Philipps, live production)
Anthony Reyes Jimenez (Angelica Jimenez Maldonado, live production)
Edgar Rodriguez (Jose Rodriguez, Jennie-O Willmar Ave. Plant)
Emily Romportl (Joe and Natalie Romportl, live production)
Sebastian Rosiles (Guillermo and Gloria Rosiles, West Central Turkeys)
Bowen Rothbauer (Granger Rothbauer, grower)
Trey Schmidt (Paul Schmidt, Atwater Mill)
Paige Schmitz (Debra Schmitz, Jennie-O Corporate Office)
Jesus Moreno (Trinidad and Maria Moreno, West Central Turkeys)
Audrey Schneider (Brian Schneider, Jennie-O Corporate Office )
Carter Schulz (Gordon Tatro, live production)
Alise Staebell (Jason Staebell, Jennie-O Corporate Office)
Ashlie Staebell (Jason Staebell, Jennie-O Corporate Office)
Jamie Steglich (Jennifer Hullander, Jennie-O Barron Plant)
Shaylee Stokes (Jenna Nelson, live production)
Elijah Storch (Pam Storch, Jennie-O Montevideo Plant)
Gage Stromberg (Dawn Stromberg, West Central Turkeys)
Brandt Sunder (Rick Sunder, Jennie-O Willmar Ave. Plant)
Paula Swanson (Carrie Swanson, Jennie-O Corporate Office)
Cooper Thieschafer (late Jay Thieschafer, live production)
Nyakuoth Tut (Nyanget Chuol, Jennie-O Faribault Plant)
Yasareth Urbano (Lorena Orozco, West Central Turkeys)

*Also a team member.

Additional Scholarship Opportunities

Hormel Foods is still accepting scholarship requests for the Hormel Inspired Pathways and Columbus Cares Scholarship programs.

Education
Hormel Inspired Pathways

Dependents of a full-or part-time benefits eligible employee of Hormel Foods are eligible for this program. See the full eligiblity guidelines at HormelInspiredPathways.com

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Diversity
Columbus Cares Scholarship Program

Dependent children of eligible Columbus employees ages 17 through 26 (children preparing to enter vocational or higher education institutions and/or children currently enrolled in such institutions) are eligible for this program. Program requirements and applications can be requested from the Columbus Craft Meats human resources team.