SAN DIEGO, Aug. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) has awarded more than $130,000 in college scholarships to 37 high school seniors as part of the company's annual scholarship program for children of employees.  

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The program offers support to the students as they continue their education at a four-year college or university, community college, or trade or technical school.

"Year after year, Sempra Energy recognizes the academic excellence of the children of our employees through this scholarship program," said G. Joyce Rowland, senior vice president of human resources, diversity and inclusion for Sempra Energy.  

Since the program's inception in 1999, Sempra Energy has funded more than $2 million in scholarships for 453 students.

To maintain impartiality in the selection of recipients, the program is administered by Scholarship Management Services®, a division of Scholarship America®, the nation's largest non-profit, private-sector scholarship and educational support organization.  The top scholarship applicants were then interviewed by a panel of Sempra Energy executives to determine grand-prize winners.  All winners were selected based on academic and non-academic criteria, including:  academic achievement, leadership, community involvement, work experience, extra-curricular activities, educational goals, career aspirations and educators' appraisals.

The scholarship winners can use the funds for tuition and fees, room and board, books and other related expenses at a college or university.  The funds also may be used to pursue a trade such as computer programming, auto mechanics, welding, pipe-fitting or any other profession at an accredited vocational or technical school.

The California winners of the company's grand-prize scholarship of $16,000 were:   Ryan Heintz, Northwood High School, Irvine; Alexander Hernandez, Servite High School, Anaheim; Justin Lee, Arcadia High School; Derek Snyder, St. Augustine High School, San Diego; Leslie Taylor, Granite Hills High School, El Cajon; Victoria Wei, Calabasas High School.  In Louisiana, Jenna Granger of Hackberry High School also received a $16,000 scholarship.

The following students received one-year, $4,000 scholarships:

Additionally, seven California students received one-year, $1,500 scholarships:  

Children of any Sempra Energy employees based domestically or internationally are eligible to apply for the scholarship program. Sempra Energy's principal subsidiaries are San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas Co., Sempra Generation, Sempra LNG and Sempra Pipelines & Storage.

Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2010 revenues of $9 billion.  The Sempra Energy companies' 17,500 employees serve more than 31 million consumers worldwide.

Sempra Generation, Sempra LNG and Sempra Pipelines and Storage are not the same company as the utility, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and Sempra Generation, Sempra LNG and Sempra Pipelines & Storage are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

SOURCE Sempra Energy