STERLING — The Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce announced it awarded 23 scholarships worth in total about $21,000 for college students from communities in northwestern Illinois and from Clinton and Davenport, Iowa.

In addition to longstanding awards in agribusiness and industrial relations, this is the first year that the Hispanic Business Leaders committee is presenting awards.

“Providing scholarships is the most rewarding work we do at the chamber,” said Jon Mandrell, who is the organization’s board president as well as Sauk Valley Community College’s vice president of academics and student services.

“We are proud to support workforce development in the Sauk Valley and provide educational opportunities for our local students,” Mandrell added.

The chamber raises scholarship money at fundraisers held throughout the year.

The inaugural Hispanic Business Leaders scholarships, each valued at $1,000, go to Abraham Gallardo at Sauk Valley Community College, Alice Sotelo at North Central College, Angelina Lopez at University of Illinois and Raul Reyes Zamora at Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Eleven of the scholarships are from the Chamber’s agribusiness committee, which again plans to hold its largest fundraiser — the steak fry — on Aug. 3. Recipients will be recognized at the gathering.

Five students received agribusiness scholarships valued at $1,500 each. They are Gracie Prose and Sean Fitzpatrick at Iowa State University, Marisa Folkers at University of Wisconsin Platteville, Emily Brooks and Andrea Buhrow at University of Illinois, and Sotelo at North Central.

The agribusiness committee also awarded five scholarships at $750. These went to Emma Foster at Sauk Valley Community College; Eric Ebersole at Lakeland College, Larissa Miller and Brieann Spoerlein at Blackhawk Community College East Campus; and Paul Sturtevant at Highland Community College.

Two people received the Charles A. Farnham Scholarship, established in 1968 in recognition of his work in industrial relations while he was at Northwestern Steel and Wire. These $1,000 scholarships went to Megan Gingrich at Northwestern University and Makenna Arickx and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Six students in the field of manufacturing will receive $500 scholarships. They are Keegan Hicks, who is enrolled at Morrison Institute of Technology and William Friedrich, Brady Wolber, John Paul Schilling, Michael Jenkins, and Logan Malmberg, who are each enrolled at Sauk Valley Community College.