Happy Holidays + Closing Out 2025

Hi Friends,

It’s been a while! As we approach the new year ahead, we wanted to provide a long overdue important update…

In June of this year, we officially awarded the 2025 Rodney James Pimentel Memorial Scholarship to Sofia Suarez Aguila!

We received almost 200 applications this year, nearly doubling the turnout of our inaugural scholarship in 2024. The pool of students was filled with accomplished, hungry, and worthy candidates – yet none more deserving than Sofia. Originally from Cuba, Sofia grew up in Chile and moved to California in 2023. Her essay, chronicling her resilience in the face of personal adversities and her passion for aerospace engineering, blew us away. Her desire for learning and bettering her community shined through her application and reminded us of some of the qualities we admired most in RJ.

This fall, Sofia started her undergraduate studies at the University of Central Florida, where she plans to continue developing her interests and skills in Aerospace Engineering. We had the lovely opportunity to meet her over Zoom with the Pimentel family and a few of our members, where she spoke of her excitement in building friendships and getting involved on campus (all while getting straight As!). On that call, she also shared her appreciation for this scholarship and the financial and emotional impact it had for her. Hearing from Sofia directly meant so much to us as a group – it could not possibly have made us more certain and more proud that she was indeed the right choice for this scholarship.

Friends, as we retroactively celebrate this beautiful moment, we also want to highlight that the 2026 edition of the Rodney James Pimentel Memorial Scholarship is officially live. We hope to continue growing our scholarship and spreading RJ’s legacy and humbly ask for you to consider contributing to the cause – you can donate here.

We wish you all a Happy Holidays and a blessed new year. 

With love,

Friends of RJ