{"id":278841,"date":"2026-04-21T17:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/278841\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:54:11","slug":"sacramento-taco-bell-team-member-wins-25k-live-mas-scholarship-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/278841\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento Taco Bell team member wins $25K Live M\u00e1s Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Taco Bell Foundation<\/a> has awarded a record $14.5 million in Live M\u00e1s Scholarships to more than 1,500 students nationwide, marking the largest class in the program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The scholarship program, which recognizes students based on passion and ambition rather than grades alone, received more than 41,000 applications this year, the highest total ever recorded.<\/p>\n

Applications nearly tripled year over year after the Foundation introduced a new option that allowed students to apply via either a video or a written essay.<\/p>\n

Of the total awards, about 60% went to returning recipients, as the program continues to provide multi-year support for students pursuing their education and career goals.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s class includes 35 Live M\u00e1s Scholarship recipients from the Sacramento area, who collectively received more than $365,000 in funding.<\/p>\n

Among them is Mariah C., a Sacramento-area Taco Bell team member<\/a> who received a $25,000 scholarship, one of the program\u2019s top awards, in a surprise presentation at her restaurant surrounded by coworkers and family.<\/p>\n

Mariah said her passion for architecture was inspired by her father, a carpenter whose work ethic shaped her own ambitions.<\/p>\n

She has since pursued architecture certifications and contributed to community projects, including building a bench for a local hospital. She aims to break barriers in the male-dominated field.<\/p>\n

The Foundation<\/a> also introduced Live M\u00e1s Lab<\/a>, in which six scholarship applicants pitched ideas to Taco Bell executives at the company’s headquarters.<\/p>\n

Each participant received a surprise $25,000 scholarship, bringing the total awards to $150,000.<\/p>\n

Beyond financial support, the program provides mentorship, networking, and career development opportunities tailored to students\u2019 interests, including media and content creation experiences at select events.<\/p>\n

The Taco Bell Foundation also supports students through community grants, awarding $28 million in 2025 and planning additional investments this year.<\/p>\n

Funding is supported in part by customer donations through the Round Up program, where small contributions at checkout help fund scholarships and grants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Taco Bell Foundation has awarded a record $14.5 million in Live M\u00e1s Scholarships to more than 1,500…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,873,123,122,120277,21992,3183,70507,120276],"class_list":{"0":"post-278841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-area","10":"tag-sacramento-headlines","11":"tag-sacramento-news","12":"tag-scholarship-recipients","13":"tag-scholarships","14":"tag-students","15":"tag-taco-bell","16":"tag-taco-bell-foundation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}