Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. (UNITED) recently announced the winners of its Crawford Johnson III and Walker Johnson Jones Scholarship, awarded annually to 20 children, stepchildren, grandchildren or step-grandchildren of Coca-Cola UNITED associates. Baton Rouge Coca-Cola Bottling Company is a sales, distribution and production center of Coca-Cola UNITED. The following winners are the children of Baton Rouge Coca-Cola associates:

• John Bayog, the son of Baton Rouge Coca-Cola associate Jhondale Bayog and a senior at Denham Springs High School, was awarded a $3,000 scholarship.
• Kirsten Tackno, the daughter of Baton Rouge Coca-Cola associate Reginald Tackno and a senior at Madison Preparatory School, was awarded a $3,000 scholarship.

Winners are selected to receive either a $5,000 or $3,000 college scholarship, renewable over four years. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic performance, leadership, extracurricular activities and service.

“Coca-Cola UNITED has been a family-focused company for 120 years,” said Keith Biedenharn, Baton Rouge Coca-Cola Sales Center Manager. “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to provide college scholarships to the children and grandchildren of our associates.”

Coca-Cola UNITED established the Crawford Johnson III and Walker Johnson Jones Scholarship in 1995 in honor of former CEO Crawford Johnson III’s retirement and his 45 years of service to the company.  The scholarship expanded in 2014, when Johnson’s daughter, former UNITED Community Relations Director and current Board of Directors member Walker Johnson Jones, retired after 34 years of service. The program is a testament to the company’s commitment to education and its focus on associates and their families across its six-state bottling territory.

For the complete list of 2023 Crawford Johnson III and Walker Johnson Jones Scholarship recipients, click here.