By Melissa Trevizo

Houston-based energy company Occidental (Oxy) recently awarded 12 scholarships to San Jacinto and Houston Community College students and invited them to participate in a year-long immersive program to prepare them for the workforce.

“I appreciate the time Oxy took to carefully select me for this wonderful scholarship,” said Irasema Jimenez, instrumentation student. “I love to learn new things and keep growing as a person. Hopefully one day I can be a great teacher to pass on my knowledge as well.”

The Oxy Impact Scholarship provides financial support to students studying instrumentation and electrical, process technology, and petroleum engineering. This is the first year Occidental is offering the future workforce program, which gives scholarship recipients access to professional workshops, mock interviews, resume review, and valuable networking opportunities and a chance to learn from Occidental leadership.

Joining the students for the virtual ceremony on April 26 were staff members from each college, along with Occidental’s university relations team and Occidental employees Danny Holderman and Jeanne Perdue.

Holderman, who helps manage Occidental’s assets in the Permian Basin, talked to the students about how the company “continually invests in our employees and is always looking to develop our future workforce.” He encouraged students to “pursue an education that will prepare them for careers in the oil and gas and chemical industry.”

Students awarded the scholarships are;

  • Chase Romero – instrumentation
  • Joel Munoz – process technology
  • Irasema Jimenez –instrumentation
  • Kerry Kelly – process technology