California Scholarship Foundation has been around for over a hundred years, and continues to help recognize academic achievement among high school students. At Arroyo Grande High School, Joe Hurtado, a health teacher at AGHS, runs the program, he adds up and calculates all the points that qualify students for this scholarship.
“I get all the people qualified for it, keep a spreadsheet, keep the records and stuff needed for people to do it, and I go through transcripts to make sure students filled out the form correctly. It is very, very time-consuming, Spring break, Christmas break, a lot of extra hours,” Hurtado said.
The way the scholarship works is that students must meet the rigorous requirements for at least the last four semesters of high school. To meet the CSF requirements, a total of at least 10 points must be earned off the scale. From lists one and two, a total of seven points must be earned; list three can earn the rest of the points. Having a D or F can disqualify participants from that semester.
Once the requirements are met, students will get a paper inviting them to fill out a form, on Google Classroom or a paper form. Students must complete this form for four of the last six semesters of high school to qualify for CSF. The overall purpose of this
scholarship is to recognize students who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievements. CSF has been around for a long time and has recognized so many outstanding individuals. Many students miss out on this opportunity because they forget to fill out the application, or because of a lack of knowledge as to what CSF is.
“My sophomore year, I got the CSF paper, and didn’t think anything of it. But now, as a senior, I regret not filling out the forms,” AGHS student Avery Reitsma (‘26) said.
With such firm requirement’s it is a rare honor to qualify for CSF, congrats to all that have qualified.
