This year $40,000 were awarded in the state, including $10,000 each to a member of the La Jolla tribe, Mary Pojas and Nusun Pojas, also a La Jolla member. The scholarships are from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians through the Tribe’s 20th Annual Rodney T. Mathews Jr. Since its launch, Morongo’s Mathews Scholarship Program has provided $670,000 in scholarships to 66 Native American students attending universities across the country. One local recipient of the 2025 Mathews Scholarship Program is Mary Pojas, an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, who lives on the La Jolla Indian Reservation in Pauma Valley and is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in American Indian Studies at San Diego State University. This scholarship is helping make that a reality.”The Morongo scholarship program honors the late Rodney T. Mathews Jr., a Morongo tribal member and Hastings Law School graduate who passed away in 2004.