SAN DIEGO – Ballast Point has awarded two full scholarships as partof its inaugural Brewing for Diversity partnership with the UC San Diego Extension Brewing Program. The scholarship program grants underrepresented students full tuitionand related fees for those starting or continuingin the UC San Diego Extension’s Brewing Certificate Program as well asthe opportunity to complete a paid internship at Ballast Point in San Diego togain real-world insight into brewery production and operations.
The selection committee, composed of members of Ballast Point, UC San Diego Extension, and the Inclusion Committee of the San Diego Brewers Guild, was originally tasked with presenting one recommended recipient from the strong pool of applicants. Finding it difficult to narrow down from the final twoafter reviewing the committee’s notes and the candidate’s personal essays, itwas decided that both candidates should receive a scholarship in the program’skick-off year.
According to the Brewers Association’s brewery employee diversity data, current race and ethnicity demographics of U.S. brewery employees skew overwhelmingly white for production staff (76.2%) and brewers (89%), and exceedingly male with only 7.5 percent of brewers in the U.S. identifying as female.
“We were honored to meet all ofthe scholarship finalists and couldn’t be more proud of Skylar and Elia,”said Laura Fandino, Extension’s Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. “Bothcandidates possess exemplary leadership qualities, passion for fermentation science,and desire to positively impact the interaction between communities and thecraft beer industry as a whole.”
The Brewing for Diversity scholarship application window for 2022 isopen now through May 2022. Interested applicants can visit UC San Diego Extension for more information.
For More Information:
https://extension.ucsd.edu/news-and-events/extension-blog/July-2021/Congratulations-to-the-2021-Brewing-for-Diversity