On November 16, the Granite Foundation awarded Jose Avalos a $4,700 scholarship at a recent awards ceremony in Nashua. Jose is a freshman at Nashua Community College pursuing his degree in automotive technology. He will use the Granite Foundation scholarship to purchase his required automotive tool kit, which will enable him to complete his freshman year at college and to proceed to his final year without having to take time off to earn the money for purchase of the tool kit
Pecco Beaufays, proprietor of the Highland Lake Inn in East Andover and founder and president of the Granite Foundation, attended this awards ceremony and presented Jose with his scholarship. Pecco explained, “The Granite Foundation supports students, like Jose, with scholarships which are given to students pursuing technical and vocational training at New Hampshire community colleges.”
Once again, the Granite Foundation partnered with the New Hampshire Auto Dealers Association (NHADA) in sponsoring Jose. In the last year, collaboration between the Granite Foundation and the NHADA has enabled five students to pursue their community college technical training and move into the workforce in New Hampshire
Jose Avalos, a first-generation college student, is an exceptional student who became known to the NHADA while he was in high school at Nashua North. There he participated in automotive technology training at the Career Technical Education program.
During his high school senior year, Jose received a $7,500 scholarship from the NHADA after his high school automotive team placed first in the New Hampshire Automotive Competition. His team was slated to go on to the National Automotive Competition when COVID-19 intervened. The national event was cancelled.
In spite of a tumultuous spring in 2020 due to COVID, Jose graduated from Nashua North and was accepted into the Nashua Community College automotive program, where he began his studies in the fall of 2020.
During the ceremony, Jose explained, “During my junior year at high school I started with the automotive program at Nashua North, and that really got me invigorated in automotive.” Tim Hogan, the Auto Tech Coordinator at Nashua Community College, describes Jose as “a really good student; he does his work and gets great grades in everything.”
Jessica Dade, the Executive Director of the NHADA Education Foundation, said at the November presentation, “The industry needs more students like Jose in the field. This [scholarship for his toolkit] will help him grow.”
About the Granite Foundation
The Granite Foundation, formerly called The Three Rivers Foundation – Supporting Education, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2017. The foundation began with a small board of business people from the Andover/Franklin/Tilton area.
The mission of the Granite Foundation is to provide scholarships to New Hampshire students who are pursuing technical and vocational training at any of the seven New Hampshire community colleges. The Granite Foundation collaborates with New Hampshire businesses to develop work opportunities for students holding a Granite Foundation scholarship to enable these students to work in New Hampshire communities during, and hopefully after, obtaining their technical training.
The Granite Foundation board now includes: Pecco Beaufays, President; Allan Powell, Bill Lawrence, Kamal Gosine, Michael Prete, Sooze Hodgson, Holly Walker, Elliott Hale, and Michael Wood.
Donations to the Granite Foundation can be made to: The Granite Foundation, PO Box 1006, New London NH 03257. Also visit us at GraniteFoundation.net.
We — and students like Jose Avalos – appreciate your support!