Mann Packing launches university scholarship

Mann Packing Co. will fund a $10,000 scholarship for each of the next five years at the College of Business at California State University Monterey Bay.

Recipients of the Mann Packing Scholarship, to be awarded starting in fall 2017, must:

• have a parent or guardian who worked or works in agriculture;
• have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher;
• submit a one-page essay;
• major in any program in the college;
• come from Monterey County and plan to work there after graduation.

"At CSUMB, over 50% of students are first-generation undergraduates," Lorri Koster, Mann Packing CEO and chairwoman, said in a news release. "We are pleased and proud to provide this assistance to local students who have contributed positively to this community and intend to stay here and contribute more in the future."

Koster is a member of the university's College of Business Advisory Council, where she learned about the need for scholarships.

"We are blessed to have a California State University in our backyard, yet financially a college degree can still be out of reach for many," Koster said. "It is our hope this scholarship will make a difference in the lives of many students in the College of Business."

"This significant scholarship gift enables our most needy students from the Salinas Valley and other farming sector related communities to get a huge leg-up in pursuing the American Dream and contributing to our community and the larger society we live in," Shyam Kamath, dean of the College of Business, said in the release.