Love Like Mya Scholarship Fund

About this campaign

From mya's celebration: I’ve always known how amazing Mya was from an early age. So sweet and kind but also spunky and sassy. So very full of life and a deep rooted belief in doing what is right. She approached everything with such ambition, no matter what she was doing. Theatre, dance, singing, softball, soccer, basketball, academics, extracurriculars, work, friendship, and above all faith and love. She was kind to strangers just like treasured friends. She knew pain and approached life with the core desire of making people smile. ALL people. Rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight, old young, regardless of religious beliefs. She truly was a vessel of Jesus’ love. I’ve received so many messages from strangers telling me about how Mya impacted their lives with her encouragement and support. People that she knew for a moment in time but it changed their lives.

Here is one example: I met Mya at Model UN in March 2020. It was the first and only time I met her, but she left a permanent impact on my life. I was seated next to her on the first day of debating and I was terrified. It was my first debate conference and I didn’t know a single soul in the room. I was pressured into attending the conference and regretted it— until I met Mya and DJ. Mya came up to me and sparked a conversation, and we hit it off immediately. She was so kind and outgoing. We talked every caucus (pause in debate) and passed notes throughout the sessions. She made jokes with me when the conference got stressful and checked in on me multiple times. She turned what was a tense, terrifying experience into an opportunity for me to gain confidence. She encouraged (not pressured) me into stepping out of my comfort zone. Directly because of her, I ended up speaking in front of 300+ people that weekend. To this day that is my biggest accomplishment. Mya is one of the reasons I have decided to pursue my dream of going to law school after college. I used to believe I wasn’t brave enough to stand in front of people in a courtroom until I stood in front of those 300+ people at Model UN. The courage your daughter instilled in me will stay forever, and I have to thank you for raising such a sweet soul.

This story reminds me so much of the time I watched Mya console a girl at IMTA which was a talent competition in New York City 3 years ago. She was a complete stranger who was waiting in line to compete (against mya btw) in the singing competition. Mya hugged her and soothed her and dried her tears and gave her the confidence to perform for those judges to the best of her ability. I’ve never seen anything so selfless in my life. Although she was very ambitious, she was not in competition with anyone. She wanted EVERYONE to win.

Now, i wish i could take credit for what an amazing woman Mya was but she was so much better than me. She made me want to be a better person. It is so very hard for us to understand why He took her from us now when it seems like her life was just getting started and we all were excited to see what she would do. But the thing is, she had already done so much. She’s done more than many people do in an entire lifetime.

I remember the first time Mya student directed a musical. I sat in the audience at dress rehearsal and saw these performers on the stage and could literally see Mya in their acting. I asked her later, did you direct this part? Did you direct that part? Yep - she sure did. It was so awesome to see her passion and love of theatre come through in those younger actors. My prayer and request from all of you is that you go out into the world and spread that light that was Mya to everyone you meet, if only for a minute. There is no grand gesture or preaching required to bring Jesus into the world.

I will leave you with some final words directly from Mya’s journal: Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.