Righetti High School senior named Coca-Cola Scholar

Righetti High School senior Zoi Urban is among a select group of graduating high school students across the country to win a $20,000 scholarship from Coca-Cola.

It’s a late Monday afternoon in Santa Maria and Zoi Urban is focused on her homework, the Righetti High School senior knowing the value of managing her time.

Urban is among a select group of high school seniors across the country awarded a $20,000 Coca-Cola Scholarship.

“There are 150 scholars per year, nationwide, that they choose out of about 87,000 applicants”, Urban says about her scholarship.

Urban’s performance in the classroom, her extracurricular activities and her involvement in the community where she lives, including Special Olympics, Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley and being a tutor, helped Urban garner the prestigious scholarship.

“Essays, grades, leadership and service to others”, Urban says about the qualifications she needed to become a Coca-Cola Scholar, “Coca-Cola scholars are typically leaders in the community and both service oriented and academically focused.”

Urban has not yet decided where she plans to use her $20,000 scholarship and pursue a degree in business, she is decidedly grateful to her teachers at Righetti High School, particularly Jennifer Dolan, as well as her parents.

“They’re great, I wouldn’t be who I am today without my parents and the lessons that they taught me”, Urban says, “they keep me working hard and achieving my goals.”

Urban has some good advice for those seeking to follow in her footsteps.

“I would definitely tell them to work very hard, opportunities don’t necessarily present themselves to you, sometimes you have to go out and look for them, search a little bit”, Urban says, “as long as you manage your time really well and are motivated and driven you can can achieve whatever you want to achieve.”

Zoi Urban is preparing for an all-expense paid trip to Atlanta to visit Coca Cola’s global headquarters as well as the city of Atlanta.