High-5 Drive scholarships for CSN homeless students
By Brianna Florian
High-5 Drive is an annual event held at the College of Southern Nevada to raise money for the Youthful Enterprise Scholarship provided to homeless students enrolled at CSN. This has given hope to these students looking for an education.
“The reaction is always sheer excitement when they find out they are receiving the scholarship,” said Arash Ghafoori, the executive director of Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth. Ghafoori has seen several residents of NPHY receive the Youthful Enterprise Scholarship.
This year $500 were raised along with $300 from March Music Madness, an event held by CSN to raise awareness about homeless students.
According to Ghafoori, several students wrote letters thanking the High-5 committee last year; the impact is not unnoticed.
“I know that for one client the scholarship funds allowed her to be able to make it to school because she paid for text books and was able to afford transportation,” Ghafoori said.
The High-5 Drive also helps bring together different organizations that serve Nevada’s homeless youth.
“The scholarship has helped NPHY by strengthening our relationships with community partners such as The Shade Tree and HELP of Southern Nevada,” Ghafoori said. “We are fortunate to have built strong connections with Silver State Schools Credit Union as a result of the High-5 Drive.”
According to Nancy Webb, senior analyst at CSN, the Youthful Enterprise Scholarship was established in 2008 with a generous donation of $10,000 from CSN. The High-5 Drive was created in April of 2012 and raised $1000 for the scholarship.
NPHY, The Shade Tree and HELP of Southern Nevada are all non-profit organizations that provide services to homeless Nevadans. NPHY created the Safe Place program, which is available to youth in any crisis.
For more information about these organizations http://www.nphy.org/, http://www.theshadetree.org/ and http://www.helpsonv.org/.
Coyote Student News at the College of Southern Nevada 