Wegmans Awards Over 1,900 Employee Scholarships in 2022
With graduation just around the corner, Wegmans is once again awarding employee scholarships to a new class of recipients. For the 2022-2023 school year, over 1,900 new scholarships will be awarded, and more than $6 million in tuition assistance will be provided to both new and returning scholarship recipients.
This is the highest amount ever awarded for the program, following an announcement that we would be increasing our employee scholarship awards beginning in January 2022. Part-time employees can now receive up to $8,000, and Wegmans Management Interns and full-time employees can receive up to $16,000 over four years.
“The award increase has been a huge help. I can pay more toward my semester and not have to worry about working as much so I can focus on school,” said Miguel Angel Torres Hurtado, a part-time employee at our Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts store who has received the scholarship since 2020. “It’s reduced my stress; I have more time to balance work, school, and to socialize.”
Miguel is a junior at Framingham State University, studying Business and Information Technology. Born in Columbia, he moved to the United States when he was eight years old with his mom, who had started a career with Wegmans.
“My parents have been with the company for a very long time, so I grew up with Wegmans,” said Miguel. “As I got older, I realized how awesome the company was. I wanted to get a job when I was 15 to prepare for college, and to save some money, so I applied to Wegmans. I’ve loved my managers and everyone I’ve worked with.”
Miguel’s about to embark on his third year of Wegmans’ Management Internship, a program that provides college students with the opportunity to learn and grow during the summers leading up to their graduation. At the end of the program, many interns are offered a full-time position with the company, securing a job before they even graduate from college.
“With all the development I’ve received from my internship, I see a future here,” said Miguel. “I want to keep working and growing at Wegmans.”
Since 1984, more than 44,000 Wegmans employees have been awarded scholarships totaling over $135 million. Moe Kabba is one of those recipients; he was first awarded the employee scholarship in 2008 and received it each year until he graduated from SUNY Brockport in 2013.
“Wegmans was the first supermarket I visited in the states, and I was amazed by the customer service I received,” said Moe, who came to Rochester, New York from Africa with his mother and siblings in 2001. “I was captured by the friendliness; I knew then that Wegmans was a company that I wanted to work for. During my senior year of high school, I applied to work in the distribution center, and after graduation, I was hired full-time.”
Moe worked as a product selector at our General Merchandise Distribution Center while completing his business administration degree.
“I was working full-time and going to school full-time, paying out of pocket, so the scholarship made a huge difference,” said Moe. “In the GMDC, the Pay for Performance program was in effect at the time, so I was allowed to leave as soon as my work was done and still get paid for a full shift. I was one of the fastest product selectors, so I’d finish up early and go home to get my schoolwork done. It helped me a lot.”
Moe is now a team leader at our grocery warehouse, managing daily labor, coaching employee performance, and monitoring the selection process. He lives with his wife and two daughters in the Rochester area.
In addition to this year’s employee scholarships, 15 graduating seniors from high schools in Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Wilmington, Delaware will each receive a $1,000 scholarship grant from their new local Wegmans store in a symbolic nod to our annual Employee Scholarship Program. In anticipation of their grand openings this year, the stores partnered with area high schools to select students who exemplify our values to receive the scholarships.
A complete list of this year’s scholarship recipients is available on our website.
Photo Caption: Moe Kabba and Miguel Angel Torres Hurtado have both received Wegmans employee scholarships in the past.
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