High school seniors from five Porterville-area high schools received a total of $25,000 in scholarships awarded by Setton Farms for their winning entries in the third annual Setton Earth Day Contest.

Students were asked to focus on highlighting sustainability efforts in pistachio production with their entries, creating a painting, sculpture, video or other art form that reflected Central Valley production. They were also asked to write an essay explaining how their project depicted sustainability. Use of pistachio shells, supplied by Setton, was required of each entry.

The top prize winner, a sculpture of an owl made with meticulously placed pistachio shells, secured a $5,000 scholarship for Alexa Cruz of Strathmore High School. The owl represented the pistachio industry’s adoption of owl boxes to encourage nesting in pistachio orchards. As an alternative to rodenticides, owls can control rodent populations in orchards.

Setton awarded a $2,500 scholarship to the second-place winner, $1,000 scholarships to five third-place winners, $750 scholarships to five honorable mentions and $250 to all other students participating in the contest.

Entries were judged on originality, creativity and how well they incorporated the topic of sustainability and Setton Farms branding into their project. The winners were honored at an awards luncheon on April 8.

Setton Farms, the second-largest pistachio grower-processor in the U.S., launched its scholarship program in 2016 and has awarded more than 77 scholarships to students, local community members and employees.