Avery Burton Foundation Awards Five $1,000 Scholarships To Deserving Clark County School District High School Students

HENDERSON, Nev. - April 29, 2024 - PRLog -- The Avery Burton Foundation (ABF), a 501c.3 Nevada nonprofit, recently awarded five Clark County School District high school students $1,000 each for achievements in the classroom and in athletics. Additionally, winners were scored for writing heartfelt essays describing how they had dealt with and overcame adversity in their lives.

Students who received the 2024 Avery Burton Excellence in Academics & Sports Memorial Scholarships were: Brighton Ly, Durango High School; Danilla Renteria-Estrada, Equipo Academy; Hanna Zapata Ramos, Valley High School; Laiba Ubaid, Valley High School and Ying Zhang, College of Southern Nevada High School West.

ABF and the scholarships were established by the Burton Family. Scholarships are awarded each year to honor and remember Avery Rashawn Burton, who two months after graduating from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), suffered a major depressive episode and died from suicide in July 2017 at age 22. He had just received his degree in May 2017 in Kinesiological Sciences and planned to pursue a doctoral degree in physical therapy at UNLV.

Scholarships are administered by the Public Education Foundation.

"The number of applications we received demonstrates that there are at least 374 young adults in CCSD who are resilient and focused on their well-being, despite the adversity they have come through," ABF Board Member Christina Aldan of Arana Software said. "These students are our future and this brings our community hope. I wish we had a scholarship check for every applicant, because they are all unbelievably gifted. Choosing only five recipients was tough."

The task of reviewing so many scholarship applications fell to the ABF Review Committee, a group of community-minded volunteers eager to support mental health outreach and education.

"Reviewing scholarship applications was a great way for me to volunteer and support tomorrow's leaders, while honoring the life of Avery Burton while recognizing all that he accomplished both as a student-athlete and a human being.  I look forward to once again reviewing applications next year," ABF Review Committee volunteer David Beck said.

For more information on ABF, to donate or learn about volunteer opportunities, please visit: https://averyburtonfoundation.org/