Giving Back: Canon Supports Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation

Melville, New York-based Canon Solutions America, a wholly owned subsidiary and the sales arm of Tokyo-based Canon Global, celebrates the recipients of the 2019 Coca-Cola Scholars Program scholarship.

In addition to receiving $20,000 college scholarships, Coca-Cola Scholars traveled to Atlanta earlier this month for Scholars Weekend, where they served as the guests of honor at a celebratory banquet, which Canon Solutions America was proud to support.

A joint effort of Coca-Cola bottlers across the United States and The Coca-Cola Company, the Coca-Cola Scholars Program is one of the largest corporate-sponsored, achievement-based scholarship programs of its kind. With the addition of the 2019 class, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation will have provided more than 6,150 Coke scholars nationwide with more than $69 million in scholarships over the course of 31 years. The 31st class of scholars alone will collectively be awarded $3.1 million in scholarships.

This year, 150 high school seniors were selected from an initial pool of 95,715 applications from across the country based on their academic excellence, leadership, and service-demonstrated in school and community activities-as part of 3-stage selection process.

“I want to impact the world by drawing attention to issues that are so often unaddressed,” says Kaitlyn Brennan, a 2019 Coca-Cola scholar. “The youth have a stake in all of those issues and should have their voice heard.”

Adds Zoe Weiss, another 2019 scholar, “Coca-Cola Scholars gives me access to a huge network of people who have the same goal to change the world. We’re going to have to work together … to create change at such a broad scale.”

“Canon Solutions America looks forward every year to supporting organizations, such as the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, which align with our corporate philosophy of Kyosei-which translates closely to, ‘All people, regardless of culture, custom, language or ethnicity, living and working together for the common good,’” says Pete Kowalczuk, president of Canon Solutions America. “This opportunity resonated with our goal of not only improving our local and global community through our own initiatives, but engaging with our customers to support and help elevate their own message of social responsibility.”