Pomona, CA — Pearls of Service Inc., a Pomona-based nonprofit focused on supporting local youth and expandingacademic opportunity, celebrated its annual Community Connection and Scholarship event on Dec. 5, bringing students, mentors and supporters together both in person and over Zoom for an evening centered on achievement, encouragement and financial empowerment.

The hybrid gathering marked the organization’s seventh annual celebration and included scholarship presentations, student reflections and a lively raffle drawing.

Pearls of Service Inc. provides renewable scholarships, essay awards and developmental programs for youth in Pomona and surrounding communities.

According to the organization’s mission, read during the program, Pearls of Service exists “to make a positive impact onthe community that it serves by offering programs and services that will enrich the lives and well-being” of local residents.

Much of the event highlighted the impact of the nonprofit’s renewable scholarship, which awards

$4,000, distributed in increments of $1,000 per year to college students who maintain full-time enrollment and academic standing.

One of the evening’s featured speakers was Taelen Cobb, a Pomona High School alumna now pursuing a master’s degree in religion at Claremont Graduate University.

Cobb, who received the Pearls of Service scholarship as a high school debutante in 2021, credited the award with helping her transition into higher education, purchase essential technology, secure housing and pursue internships.

“This scholarship helped me get through [undergraduate studies],” Cobb said. “The first thing that I did was definitely[buy] a new laptop for undergrad. I needed something that would keep up with me, so thank you so much for the opportunity.”

Cobb also used the funding to support her first off-campus apartment and to participate in a competitive internship inWashington, D.C., working with Voice of America’s English-to-Africa division.

“It was a wonderful, wonderful internship,” she said, explaining that the experience inspired her to study abroad inGhana the following year. “I could have survived off of that scholarship alone during my time in Ghana.”

She encouraged students to expand their horizons and lean on community support systems.

“My mom has this saying, ‘You gotta go to grow.’ And that was it,” she said. “I was like, I need to go and grow.”