Briana Tiano-Mohr ’14 wouldn’t be at Pacific University without scholarships.

“Since the economic downturn, everybody has been having a hard time. My dad was basically funding our household on his Social Security since my mom died in 1999,” said the Gold Beach, Ore., native. “The fact that I was able to get into Pacific on the scholarships I did was incredible. I wouldn’t have been able to come otherwise.”

Tiano-Mohr originally was attracted to Pacific because of the welcome she received when visiting campus for the Pacesetters competition in her senior year of high school. She had learned about the school through materials mailed to her after she took the PSAT, and she came to Pacesetters to explore scholarship options.

“The real deal-closer was that everybody I talked to was very, very open, very, very willing to talk and share their expertise. That’s not something I had encountered at any of the other places I had visited,” she said.

“It fostered a good reputation that everyone there is really there to help the students. That’s the end goal.”

Still, even after a suite of scholarships and loans, it was going to be hard to make ends meet for 2011–12.

“At the time, my family was in a bit of a panic,” she said, explaining that she still had about $10,000 of out-of-pocket expenses to pay. Then, she got an email notifying her she would receive a $4,500 Juan Young Trust Scholarship.

“It came as a huge, wonderful surprise for me,” she said. “I got this email saying I’d been given this scholarship, and I spent the next 10 minutes going back and forth between screaming gibberish and crying.

“It’s been a huge stroke of whatever you want to call it: luck, miracle, fate.”

The Juan Young Trust Scholarship Program was established under the will of Juan Young, who started working at Kienow’s grocery stores in Portland as a freshman at Washington High School in 1924. By 1942, Young was appointed general manager of Kienow’s Food Stores, and in 1948, he was elected to the board of United Grocers, serving five times as president of the group. His trust program grants funding to colleges and universities in Oregon to provide scholarships to students. First preference goes to lineal descendants of former employees of Kienow’s, but the general student body is eligible.

The scholarship is for Oregon residents under 21 who are in good academic standing. Though it’s not need-based, it often provides much needed assistance to students like Tiano-Mohr or Donte Holloway ’14 (pictured), who received the $4,500 scholarship in 2011–12 and will receive a scholarship again in 2012–13.

Holloway grew up in Roseburg, Ore., and found a love of music early. He took up the alto saxophone and in high school added guitar and piano. His musical skills were almost entirely self-taught, though, and he came to Pacific looking for a chance to learn and perform in a personalized setting.

“The music department that Pacific has cultivated is amazing. With two phenomenal a capella groups and numerous instrumental groups, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience what they have to offer.”

Holloway is majoring in music education with a minor in Spanish. He hopes to someday conduct orchestra or choral groups, teach classical guitar and eventually become a professor of music theory.

Those goals, though, wouldn’t be possible without assistance, such as the Juan Young Trust Scholarship.

“I didn’t think I would be able to afford a college like Pacific until I was shown the amount of financial aid I could receive. This school does whatever it can to allow its students to achieve their dreams,” Holloway said. “Because of the Juan Young Trust, I am able to further my education at Pacific University and pursue my musical goals.”