Victoria Lyons wins USBWA scholarship

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Victoria Lyons, a freshman at Johns Hopkins University, has been selected the winner of the U. S. Basketball Writers Association's college scholarship given annually to the son or daughter of a USBWA member.

Victoria is the daughter of USBWA member Terry Lyons of DigitalSportsDesk.com.

The scholarship is a $1,000 grant awarded annually by the USBWA for four years.

Lyons

"We had an exemplary collection of applicants," said USBWA President Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports. "Victoria stood out among the group and the USBWA is pleased to present her with its annual scholarship."

Lyons submitted an impressive application for the scholarship that demonstrated academic excellence and leadership in community service. She graduated from The Winsor School in Boston with a 3.8 grade point average. While in school, she served as the head of its tutoring program at the Mather Elementary School in Dorchester, Mass., to help students with reading and writing. She was photography editor for her high school's online news magazine, a tour guide for the admissions office, a summer camp counselor teaching creative arts and a frequent volunteer at the Greater Boston Food Bank.

She also started a commemorative 9/11 program at Winsor after learning that the school did not commemorate the date Sept. 11 in our nation's history.

Victoria, who is known by her friends, classmates and family as "Tori," is studying history at Johns Hopkins. She has plans to take classes at Hopkins' Graduate School of Education in preparation for graduate school and her goal of being an elementary school teacher.

"It is not often that I use the words gentle, confident, intellectual, empathetic, courageous and powerful to describe the same person," wrote David Clarke, director of college counseling at The Winsor School. "But Tori is that kind of person.

"She is one of the most inquisitive intellectuals I have met at Winsor, and she is also one of the kindest human beings I have encountered in my twenty-year career. She is a gem."