South El Monte High School senior receives $40K STEM scholarship from Edison

SOUTH EL MONTE, Calif. (KABC) -- A South El Monte High School senior received a big surprise to help reach her goal of becoming an environmental engineer and benefiting her community.

Sandra Amezcua was in class when Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, walked in with a $40,000 check for Sandra.

She is one of 30 deserving STEM college scholarship recipients selected out of more than 2,000 applicants to Edison's scholarship program.

Sandra, who also received a medal for her achievement, said she has big plans after she reaches her goal in environmental sciences.

"Bringing that back to like my community and showing them 'si se puede,' and also like giving them renewable energy, like access to renewable energy, either completely free or at very low cost," she said.

Teaching is also among her plans. Sandra has been accepted to Stanford, UC Berkeley and UCLA - and she is still waiting to hear from more.

In addition, Sandra is the president of her school's Emerald Jewel Club, she founded the freshman mentoring program at her school and she also dances Ballet Folklórico.