2022 Scholarship WinnerS
Zachary Davis Memorial Foundation awards scholarships
The legacy of Zachary Davis lives on through the Memorial Foundation named in his honor. While the story was tragic, it is the hope of helping others that keeps the foundation looking for ways to create hope.
This year, thanks to the generosity of donors, sponsors, and participants in events like the Dandelion Run held as part of the Dandelion Festival, a total of five Tuscarawas County seniors were awarded scholarships. Each wants to help others in their chosen field.
“We award scholarships to seniors in Tuscarawas County who are looking for further themselves in an addition recovery-related field,” shared Anita Davis, director of the foundation named in her son’s honor. “On November 12, 2005, my son, Zachary, died of a heroin overdose. Before he died, he told me if he could tell kids and prevent one person from ever using, he would. And so, his story is being told in hopes that his legacy will prevent another death.”
This year’s awardees included:
Zane Douglass - Tuscarawas Central Catholic High School
“I aspire to conduct research alongside my professors to learn about the chemical foundation of drugs that lead to addiction and mental health disorders,” Douglass wrote in his essay. “Prevention and advocacy are two paths to creating lasting change in Tuscarawas County and the world around us.” Douglass, a senior at Tuscarawas Central Catholic will be furthering his education this fall with a Biology major with a focus on Pre-Med.
In a letter of recommendation, Ron C. McConnell who has been a teacher and advisor to Douglass for the six years, declared Douglass to be a rare breed. “The first words that come to mind when I think of Zane are: intelligent, self-motivated, sincere, trustworthy, respectful, compassionate, honest, ambitious, cooperative, and creative,” he wrote. “Another strength of Zane is his ability to lead. When I gave Zane a task that required working with others, he never faltered. A leader of Zane’s quality is rare in today’s youth.”
Nora Bryan - Dover High School
Nora Bryan, a senior at Dover High School will be furthering her education at Ohio University in Athens this fall where she plans to major in Psychology before her Masters in Experimental Psychology. For Bryan, the opportunities at Ohio University to work with mental illness, particularly Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. “I believe it is important that I research to make advancements in psychology so that I can better understand the brains of people who suffer from this debilitating disease,” she wrote in her essay. “Most therapists have very little knowledge, if any, about OCD and how to treat it. For many people, it can lead to substance dependency, low quality of life, and even suicide. If I can aid in preventing these daunting results, I will do whatever I can.”
For Courtney Rees who wrote a letter or recommendation for Bryan, the letter was easy to pen as she worked with her in and out of the classroom over the past five years. “She is humble and also serves as a leader in this capacity though she does not realize or recognize it,” Rees wrote. “Others look to her experience for guidance and leadership as she was a three-year varsity cheerleader having also volunteered additional hours on top of a demanding schedule to also participate in the competition team. Nora is also artistically talented. She is smart, creative, and this shows through her work.
Marissa Blauch - Garaway High School
Garaway and Buckeye Career Center senior Marissa Blauch will be headed to Muskingum University this fall to major in Criminal Justice and Psychology. “With many opportunities to work alongside the Zanesville Police Department and help with the evolving issue of drug usage and addiction leading to trafficking and other horrendous crimes, Muskingum was a clear fit for me,” Blauch wrote. “I am a firm believer that by teaching youth early on in their lives about prevalent issues like drug use, addiction, trafficking and other things we can ehlp prevent them falling victim as they get older. I want to help others, I want to stop the problem before it can even happen.”
Blauch was praised for her educational goals and was recently inducted into the National Technical Honor Society for the second year at Buckeye Career Center. She is active in her community and enjoys cars, especially the 1970 Monte Carlo that she helped restore with her father that was ready just in time to go to her Senior Prom at Garaway.
Madison Wagner - Dover High School
To further her education, Madison Wagner, a senior at Dover will be attending Kent State University at Tuscarawas to major in Early Childhood Education - Age 3 to Grade 3. “I have always been involved,” Wagner wrote in her essay. “I have helped coach the Memorial Hall Tennis Camps, Dover Park Tennis Camps, have been a mentor at Big Brothers Big Sisters, Takin’ It To The Schools, Youth to Youth, and other community service projects through Kiwanis Key Club.” With a double major in Psychology, Wagner hopes to help children and their parents. “I believe in the saying, “All children deserve parents, but not all parents deserve children,” so I feel minoring in psychology allows me to be prepared for situations.”
Laurie Wallick, an English teacher at Dover, said she was honored to write a recommendation on behalf of Wagner. “Madison is an exceptional young woman,” she wrote. “As her English teacher, it has been a privilege to have her in my classroom and witness her growth over the years.” She described Wagner as a well-rounded student involved in many parts of the school and community. “I find Madison to be a truly giving and generous person,” Wallick stated. “It is her determination and heart that have contributed to her overall success. Her contributions to my class, her school, and our community are important and admirable.”
Jenna Trifelos - Strasburg High School
For Jenna Trifelos, earning a degree in Psychology from Kent State University Tuscarawas is the plan for the future. This Strasburg High senior is active in her school and community. She has been a dancer with the Tuscarawas Center for the Arts for 14 years. “I’m going into the Mental Health Field because I truly believe that I could make a huge difference in some lives,” she shared. “I have a future and enough stubbornness and compassion in my heart to give thousands of other kids hope. I will do anything and everything that I must do to build that future for my future patients.”
In a recommendation from teacher Hope Haney, Trifelos was described as a student destined to succeed. She was described as hard-working and smart with an exceptional work ethic. “With an incredible desire to help people, Jenna is looking forward to attending Kent State University to become a mental health technician at Akron Children’s Hospital.” She also noted that Trifelos is witty, funny, smart, passionate and determined as reflected in her 3.925 GPA.
Davis is excited to watch this group of local youth start begin their post high school academic journeys and is hopeful they will each change the world. “By supporting their academic goals, our hope and prayer is that they will impact others and help change the future, one person at a time,” Davis said.
For more information on the Zachary Davis Memorial Foundation, go to zachsstory.org