In partnership with Florida Prepaid College Foundation, Carnival Foundation presented 16 Miami-Dade high school seniors with four-year college scholarships during halftime at a recent HEAT game.

The students currently participate in the Carnival Scholarship & Mentoring Program, an innovative workplace program sponsored by Carnival in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami that pairs a student with an employee mentor from Carnival. Prior to entering high school and participating in the Carnival Scholarship & Mentoring Program, the students attended the HEAT Academy, Breakthrough Miami and Overtown Youth Center.

The 2019 scholarship recipients include:

  • Jaylen Bishop – Carnival Mentor: Vance Gulliksen

  • Stephanie Byrd – Carnival Mentor: Ines Alvarez

  • Donavan Ferguson – Carnival Mentor: David Martinez

  • Fabiola Fils-Aime – Carnival Mentor: Arlyene Ponce

  • Jazlyn Garcia – Carnival Mentor: Meegan Broussard

  • Emmanuel Garit – Carnival Mentor: Dwayne Humphrey

  • Osirys Guerra – Carnival Mentor: Diana Jacoby

  • Jose Guillen – Carnival Mentor: Paul Jarvis

  • Christopher Hinds – Carnival Mentor: Dominic Chancellor

  • Joshua Johnson – Carnival Mentor: Mark Jackson

  • Ariadna Martins – Carnival Mentor: Donnise Webb

  • Rick Pierre-Louis – Carnival Mentor: Vladimir Lindor

  • Winston Quinn – Carnival Mentor: David Steedman

  • Onelio Rios – Carnival Mentor: Calvin Ashley

  • Kayla Rossin-Hines – Carnival Mentor: Erica Brown

  • Noemi Suarez-Lara – Carnival Mentor: Sara Polo

In addition to receiving the scholarship, students were presented with a new Dell laptop computer to support their studies, compliments of Carnival Foundation, Dell and Microsoft.

The scholarships, purchased by Carnival Foundation, were handed out at center court by Linda Coll, executive director of the Carnival Foundation, with a congratulatory handshake given to each student by Micky Arison, Chairman of Carnival Corporation.

President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami Gale Nelson, Carnival’s Vice President of Guest Care and Communications Vicky Rey, and representatives from the Miami HEAT, including NBA Hall of Famer and current Vice President of Player Programs Alonzo Mourning, Chief Marketing Officer Michael McCullough and President of Business Operations Eric Woolworth, were on hand to acknowledge the students, as well.

For the past 17 years, Carnival has purchased Project STARS scholarships from Florida Prepaid College Foundation, representing a collective value of more than $3.8 million. The Florida Prepaid College Foundation scholarship covers the cost of tuition for two years at a Florida college followed by two years at a Florida public university. This is the 10th year Carnival scholarship recipients have matriculated into college.

For more information visit www.carnivalfoundation.com.