Camp Pendleton Children Earn Scholarships Through Marine Corps Foundation

More than 130 children from Marine Corps families around San Diego are being honored Tuesday with scholarships from the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, including 30 kids of active Camp Pendleton military members. 

The foundation, which began in 1962, has given away more than $80 million in scholarship funds to deserving military kids. This year, $6.6 million is being awarded, according to U-T San Diego. 

One of the recipients is Carlsbad resident Kiana Mendoza, who earned the Heroes Tribute Scholarship Program for Children of the Fallen, which will pay about $30,000 over four years, according to the newspaper. 

Mendoza's father, Maj. Ramon Mendoza, Jr., was killed eight years ago by a roadside IED in Ubaydi, Iraq. But his words to Kiana still live on to this day. 

“Be strong and don’t let your goals get away,” she told U-T San Diego, recounting her father's advice to her. 

It's certainly served her well. Kiana, 20, will be going abroad to China this fall to study at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. She hopes her international studies will allow her to become a foreign diplomat one day. 

“Just the idea that they want to help, makes me feel like I’m not alone and I’m still part of the Marine Corps family,” Mendoza said.

“It’s more than financial support–we want to stand by the kids,” Davis told U-T San Diego. “Kiana is an incredible example of the scholarship recipients. They don’t shy away from tough missions to honor the legacy of their parents.”

“I can hear my Dad saying, 'Don’t let things get you down, keep plugging away,'" Kiana told the paper. "It’s been 8 years instead of eight months, but I’m trying to follow his advice."