The Women’s Industry Network announced that it has selected its scholarship winners for 2015. Recipients of the WIN scholarships have demonstrated their desire to excel in the field of collision repair and will receive tuition assistance as well as educational opportunities.

The College Student Tuition and Conference Scholarship Award is presented to students enrolled in a post-secondary collision repair technology program. Each scholarship recipient will receive a $1,000 scholarship to continue her post-secondary education in collision repair, a one-year WIN membership, plus registration fee and travel expenses to attend the 2015 WIN Educational Conference.

This year’s recipients include:

• Shelby Woods, who attends Southwestern Iowa Community College in Creston, Iowa. Woods attended two years of vocational classes in high school and has completed her first year in technical school. Her goal is to one day become an insurance adjuster.
• Faith Schoovaerts, who attends Washburn Tech in Topeka, Kan. While attending Washburn, she has become involved in Recycled Rides, a program where students work with licensed technicians to refurbish cars for needy families. Her goal is to work in the collision industry as either a paint sales representative or an estimator.
• Leni Casares, who attends Lake Technical Center in Eustis, Fla. As a student at Lake Technical School, she serves as a student ambassador. She hopes to become a body technician as she enjoys the hands-on aspect of the profession. Her long-term goal is to own her own shop.
• Claudia Felici, who attends Texas State Technical College in Harlingen, Texas. Felici is in her second semester and is planning to complete her training on the refinish side. Ideally, she would like to work at a dealership collision repair center in Rio Grande Valley after graduation.
• Corina Rutland, who attends Moultrie Technical College in Moultrie, Ga. Rutland is the SkillsUSA president for her school. Her short-term goal is to work in a collision shop after graduation with a long-term goal of owning a custom shop.

The High School/College Tuition Scholarship Award is presented to students enrolled in a post-secondary or secondary collision repair technology program. Each scholarship winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship to continue her post-secondary education in collision repair and a one-year WIN membership.

This year’s recipients include:

• Kayla Adams, who attends Tennessee College of Applied Technology. Adams is married with two children. After graduation, she looks forward to working in the collision repair world and maybe owning a shop some day.
• Maria Carmen Mendez, who attends the Universal Technical Institute (UTI) in Sacramento, Calif. Mendez is proud of the fact that she is the first in her family to graduate from high school. Once she graduates from UTI, she hopes to work in a body shop as a refinish professional and work her way up to lead painter.
• Jasmine Herrera, who attends Main East High School with a plan to attend Ohio Technical in the fall. Classic car restoration is her passion. Her immediate goal – after finishing her education in classic car restoration – is to work her way up to her dream job: working for Chip Foose from the show Overhaulin’.

In addition to tuition scholarships, recipients will have the opportunity to be mentored by a 2015 Most Influential Women (MIW) Honoree. The MIW awards will be presented at the 2015 Educational Conference May 4-6, 2015 in Baltimore, Md., and some scholarship winners will have the opportunity to meet their mentors at that time.