During Sunday night’s Miami HEAT game, Miami-based Carnival Corporation & plc and its flagship brand, Carnival Cruise Lines, presented full four-year scholarships to 16 local high school seniors who are participating in an innovative workplace mentoring program operated in conjunction with the Miami HEAT and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami.  Each student also received a laptop computer, compliments of Carnival, Dell and Microsoft.

The students are graduates of the Carnival-sponsored HEAT Academy, an after-school enrichment program for third- to fifth-grade students.  Since completing the program, Carnival has tracked their academic progress through middle school and the students were then selected to participate in the workplace mentoring program during high school.  Administered by the Carnival Foundation, the workplace mentoring program pairs nearly 100 local high school students with a member of Carnival’s management team who provide a first-hand look at the business world and real-life work experience.

This year’s scholarship recipients include:

•  Karina Aguilar (Carnival mentor: Tere Torrecillas)

•  Torrencia Allen (Carnival mentor: Nathalie Vilaire)

•  Andre Allie (Carnival mentor: Glenn Aprile)

•  Katherine Barahona (Carnival mentor: Karen Wallach)

•  Giselle Davila (Carnival mentor: Janet Padron)

•  Nataly Figueroa (Carnival mentor: Cristina Reus)

•  Lorenzo Hall (Carnival mentor: John Harshaw)

•  Harold Lopez (Carnival mentor: Frankie Bravo)

•  Alex Moody (Carnival mentor: Arnie Perez)

•  Carlos Morales (Carnival mentor: Rick Miguez)

•  Nickie Oliver (Carnival mentor: Vicki Ramirez)

•  Ashanti Pierre (Carnival mentor: Vicky Blanch)

•  Marta Reyes (Carnival mentor: Milly Martin)

•  Rudy Shine (Carnival mentor: Tom McCormick)

•  Edwin Valera (Carnival mentor: Ruben Rodriguez)

•  Richard Williams (Carnival mentor: Richard Ames)

The scholarships were purchased by Carnival through the Florida Pre-Paid Scholarship program which matched the company’s contribution on a dollar-for-dollar basis.  Scholarships were awarded based on academic performance, mentor recommendations, and face-to-face interviews with the scholarship committee.

Over the past 10 years, Carnival has purchased more than 150 scholarships with a total value of $1.8 million and over the past four years, nearly 60 students have been awarded scholarships which can be used at any Florida state university or college.  The company plans to continue awarding scholarships on an annual basis.