4 California Students Win $4K Scholarships for Trade Careers
The Humboldt Builders Exchange awarded $16,000 total to four local high school graduates pursuing careers in welding, heavy equipment operation, and construction management. The program received 24 applications this year, so many strong candidates that organizers increased awards from three to four students.
Four Northern California students just got a $4,000 boost toward building careers in the construction trades, and the demand was so strong that organizers added an extra scholarship.
The Humboldt Builders Exchange announced its 2026 scholarship winners, celebrating local high schoolers who are choosing hands-on careers in welding, construction, and heavy equipment operation. What started as three awards became four when the selection board couldn't narrow down 24 exceptional applications.
AvaJane Harlow from Fortuna High School is heading to Butte College to study welding. Tristan Titus of Ferndale High School will pursue heavy equipment training at the same college before returning to Humboldt County to work in trucking and equipment operations.
Travis Way from South Fork High School plans to study Construction Management at Sacramento State, with hopes of working alongside his brother back home in Southern Humboldt. Blake Santos of McKinleyville High School will study project management at Butte College, continuing his family's construction tradition.
"The $4,000 scholarship is hopefully enough to be of real service," said Executive Director Jada Brotman. The board faced a difficult choice with so many strong candidates this year.
The Ripple Effect
The surge in applications tells a bigger story about young people rediscovering skilled trades. At a time when many regions struggle to find qualified workers in construction and related fields, 24 Humboldt County students actively pursued these career paths.
Each scholarship recipient represents not just individual opportunity but community investment. Titus and Way both plan to return home after training, bringing new skills back to their local economy. Santos continues a multigenerational commitment to building, showing how trade careers create lasting family legacies.
The Humboldt Builders Exchange mission is "Building the trades of tomorrow," and this year's expanded awards show they're putting resources behind that goal. When excellence forces you to increase your giving, that's a problem worth having.
These four students are heading toward careers that build the physical world around us, one weld and one foundation at a time.
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Based on reporting by Google News - Scholarship Awarded
This story was written by BrightWire based on verified news reports.
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